Empire Company

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Empire Company Limited is a Canadian conglomerate engaged mostly in food retail and corporate investments. Founded in 1963, the company is headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia and owns the Sobeys supermarket chain.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In total, the company owns, affiliates or franchises more than 1,500 stores; in addition to Sobeys, brands include Safeway, IGA, Foodland, Farm Boy, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Lawtons Drug.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Acquisitions

Empire Company has a long history of acquisitions:

• 1976 Lawton's Drug Stores Limited, which operated 18 stores in Nova Scotia.
• November 1980 – July 1981 Empire acquires Sobey Holdings Limited, gaining a 50.97% stake in the company.
• February 1983 Empire ups its ownership of Hannaford Bros. Co., an American food retailer, to 25% (Sold in 2000)
• June 1987 Empire buys the remaining 49.03% of Sobeys, making it an entirely owned subsidiary. (Sold in 1998, re-bought in 2007)
• 1987 Empire buys out its partner in Empire Theatres, turning it into an entirely owned subsidiary.
• May 1988 Empire buys a 25% stake in Provigo.
• 1988 Empire acquires an additional 22% stake in Wajax, resulting in a total ownership of 45%.
• June 1989 Empire re-purchases the outstanding share of Atlantic Shopping Centres, making it an entirely owned subsidiary.
• December 1993 Empire Real Estate buys 64% of Halifax Developments, Ltd; making it an entirely owned subsidiary.
• December 1998 Empire buys Oshawa Group for $1.5 billion.
• January 2001 Empire Real Estate buys a 35.7% stake in Genstar Developmental Partnership for $29 million.
• February 2004 Sobey's acquires Commisso's Food Markets, and Empire Real Estate acquires Commisso's real estate for a total of $103.5 million.
• September 2005 Empire Theatres acquires 27 more theatres.
• August 2006 Sobey's acquires Achille de la Chevrotière Ltée, including its grocery chain of about 25 stores in Quebec and Ontario. This costs $79.2 million.
• July 15, 2007 Empire re-buys the remaining outstanding Sobey's share, making it once again an entirely owned subsidiary.
• September 2007 Sobeys buys Thrifty Foods for $256.6 million.
• 2011 Sobeys purchases 236 retail gas locations for $214.9 million in Québec and Atlantic Canada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• June 2013 Empire buys all of Safeway Canada's stores for $5.8 billion
• September 2018 Empire announces intent to buy Farm Boy stores in an $800 million deal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• March 2021 Empire announces it will buy 51% stake in Longo's and its Grocery Gateway e-commerce business for $357 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of Empire's 2022 financial year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Sales of Subsidiaries/Interests

• 1998 Empire sells 38% of Sobeys, putting it out on the public stock exchange.
• 2000 Empire sells its 25% stake in Hannaford Bros Co for $1.03 billion.
• March 2002 Empire sells Serca Foodservice to SYSCO for $411 million.
• June 2005 When Wajax became an income trust, Empire sold 2.875 million shares for $50.8 million.
• 2006 Empire sells 44 properties to Crombie REIT.
• April 2008 Empire sells another 61 properties to Crombie REIT
• 2011 Empire sells its remaining share of Wajax.
• June 2013 Empire announces the sale of Empire Theatres to Cineplex Entertainment and Landmark Cinemas. The aggregate gross purchase price paid to Empire Theatres in the two transactions was approximately $248 million in cash.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• October 2013 Sale of Empire Theatres to Cineplex and Landmark is complete.
• August 2013 Sobeys sells the land of 68 Safeway locations to Crombie REIT for $900 million.
• Oct/Nov/Dec 2013 Sobeys announces the planned sale of 23 of its stores in Alberta in preparation to the Safeway acquisition; this move was required in order to satisfy the Competition Bureau.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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External links

• Official site