Albertsons, parent company of Acme Markets, may be selling off its almost two dozen grocery chains in a business strategy review, writes Joseph N. DiStefano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Acme could be sold “as real estate,” to other store chains, said John Stanton, a St. Joseph’s University professor of food marketing. Acme has about 161 stores in the Mid-Atlantic.

Albertsons operates about 2,300 supermarkets, 1,700 stand-alone pharmacies, 400 gas stations, and dozens of warehouses and food processing plants in 34 states.

The company went public in 2020, selling 50 million shares at $15 apiece. The stock value has risen more than 85% and went up another 11% following Monday’s announcement, closing at $35.70 a share on Thursday.

Cerebus Capital Management in New York and Philadelphia-based Lubert-Adler Partners now control almost half of the Albertsons shares and would benefit from the sell-off.

 “These investors buy assets for a song, put a little money into it, make the stores better, then sell at a profit. Now they want to get some good returns on that,” Stanton said. “Their real business is selling companies, not food. That’s what you hire investment bankers for, to sell assets.”

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about a possible move to sell off Acme supermarkets.