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Syracuse, NY -- Tops Markets finalized its purchase of P&C Foods Friday afternoon, promising to keep all stores open for 30 days as it evaluates their futures.
The deal closed around 5 p.m., hours later than expected. Buffalo-based Tops postponed and then canceled a planned press conference as attorneys tidied up details on the deal, which brings Tops 79 supermarkets in a four-state area.
“We are very eager and excited to begin working with store managers and associates to best serve the grocery shopping needs of our new neighbors and customers,” Tops President and CEO Frank Curci said in a release issued minutes after the deal closed.
The sale of the stores brings near the end of The Penn Traffic Co., which traces its roots to 1854 when it began selling food to stagecoaches. Penn Traffic bought P&C Foods in the 1980s. In the past decade, Penn Traffic declared bankruptcy three times. The latest, filed Nov. 18, included the company’s intention to sell off all its stores.
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The sale was approved Monday by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Peter J. Walsh on terms that included $85 million in cash from Tops for the grocery stores, according to Penn Traffic attorney Michael Foreman. Additionally, C&S Wholesale Grocers has agreed to reduce claims of more than $25 million against Penn Traffic.
The deal is under review by the Federal Trade Commission. When that review is done, Tops will spend money fixing up the stores in line with the way it has fixed up its existing Tops Markets in Western and Central New York, Curci said in the release.
Even after the deal was finalized, Tops did not reveal what stores it plans to close. Curci earlier told the Post-Standard he expected “a small handful” of P&C stores to be shuttered.
The Post-Standard has learned at least three stores will close, including one in Norwich in Chenango County.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, whom Curci thanked when he announced the deal was finalized, called Friday “a good day for New York.” “The vast majority of workers will keep their jobs at good salaries and virtually all the stores will be kept open,” Schumer said.
Schumer said his involvement began when he read about the bankruptcy and learned the stores were likely to be liquidated -- and the jobs that went with them lost. He said he called Penn Traffic creditor GE Capital and urged them to push back the bankruptcy deadline. GE agreed and bidders had until Jan. 21 to make their best case to the bankruptcy court.
Court filings from Penn Traffic showed the company was hemorrhaging cash and company executives were pushing for an early end to the bankruptcy process. Liquidators offered $36.5 million for the company. Then Schenectady-based Price Chopper made a $54 million bid for 22 P&C stores. That deal would have left the company’s other stores to be liquidated.
Tops $85 million bid for all stores was made Jan. 8. Since then there have been talk of other offers, but none were formally filed
Staff writer Mark Weiner contributed to this report. Contact Charles McChesney at cmcchesney@syracuse.com.
» Read our coverage -- and your comments -- from earlier today.