Eric Fruits on the End of the Kroger-Albertsons Trial
ICLE Senior Scholar Eric Fruits was quoted by Supermarket News about the prospects for the Federal Trade Commission in its lawsuit to block the merger of Kroger and Albertsons. You can read the full piece here.
Supermarket News reached out to Eric Fruits, senior scholar at the International Center for Law & Economics, and David Balto, an antitrust lawyer who served as the policy director of the Bureau of Competition for the FTC between 1998 and 2001, and both believe an injunction on the $24.6 billion merger is likely to happen.
…It was wise of the FTC to use Albuquerque, N.M., as an example on how the merger could wipe out grocery competition in one area, Fruits noted.
“Kroger and Albertsons would have a pretty substantial share of that market, and [the FTC] hammered on that a few times,” he said.
The FTC, according to Fruits, believed it did not have to show a large-scale decrease or increase in anti-competitive behavior, but simply give the impression that all you need to do is find one market negatively impacted by the merger.
“When you have hundreds of markets, it’s just a sheer’s numbers game. It’s always easy to find one,” he said.
…Judge Nelson’s final decision, however, could take some time, according to Fruits.
“She’s heard three weeks’ of testimony, very data-intensive testimony with a lot of statistical analysis. So all those factors kind of point to her probably taking several weeks to come up with a decision,” Fruits said.
…All might not be riding on the federal case in Portland. Both Balto and Fruits agree that if an injunction is granted and the merger is blocked, Kroger will file for an appeal.