PORTLAND, Ore. – After more than a week of the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against Kroger’s $25 billion bid to take over rival Albertsons, you might wonder what it’s like in the courtroom.
The stakes are high: Last week, a Kroger attorney said during the ongoing hearing at the U.S. District Court, “this merger will not occur” if the company doesn’t block regulators’ bid for a court order to halt their merger. The proceeding, scheduled to last as long as through Sept. 13, is a hearing for a preliminary injunction that would stop the merger as the FTC pursues the rest of its case against the merger in Washington, D.C. But antitrust experts say such an order would mean months of delay, which would be unacceptable to the companies.