USA: Fleming enters agreement to acquire two food 4 less stores from Jumbo Market, Inc.

Fleming (NYSE:FLM) announced today that it has entered an agreement to purchase two of the three Food 4 Less franchised stores from Jumbo Market, Inc. The transaction is expected to be closed in approximately one month. Fleming has also located a retail customer to acquire the third franchise Food 4 Less store which it will continue to supply. "We are pleased to add these high-performance stores to the Food 4 Less operation," said Dennis Lucas, Executive Vice President and President of Fleming Retail. "The Food 4 Less format is key to growing our value retail operations, which has tremendous market opportunity." The two stores being purchased are in Antioch and Fairfield, California. The company announced last week that it is accelerating the growth of its value retail operations by converting approximately 15 company-owned conventional retail stores to the Food 4 Less type format. The conversion of conventional stores and this acquisition would grow the Food 4 Less format from 26 to 43 stores. Fleming is a $15 billion company and industry leader in distribution and has a growing presence in value retailing. Fleming's primary business is buying and selling merchandise. The company serves approximately 3,000 supermarkets, 3,000 convenience stores and nearly 1,000 supercenters, discount, limited assortment, drug, specialty, e-tailers and other businesses across the country.