Deals

NEW YORK - Multiple bids have been submitted to buy Mauldin, South Carolina-based Bi-Lo, and the sale is expected to happen by year's end, according to a published report. However, analysts speculate on whether the winning bidder will be a supermarket company.

TROY, Mich. - Kmart Holding Corp. has cut 10 percent of its headquarters staff, which accounts for some 200 to 300 people, according to published reports.

MINNEAPOLIS - Target Corp., based here, has reached definitive agreements to sell its Mervyn's department store division to an investment consortium for an aggregate consideration of approximately $1.65 billion in cash.

CINCINNATI - The Kroger Co. has reached an agreement with No Frills Supermarkets, Inc. to buy three Albertsons stores in the Omaha area. The transaction is expected to be complete by early September. Financial terms were not revealed.

ZAANDAM, The Netherlands - Ahold has entered into an agreement with ICA Forbundet Invest, its partner in the Scandinavian joint venture ICA AB, in which ICA Forbundet will purchase from Ahold half of the shares of ICA AB that Ahold will, in turn, purchase from the third joint-venture partner, Canica AS, under the put option exercised by Canica.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Penn Traffic Co. is looking into selling, then leasing back, 21 company-owned supermarkets and five warehouse distribution centers.

CINCINNATI - The all-but-defunct grocery chain Thriftway has sold eight stores to rivals in the greater Cincinnati area, with six of the sites going to the Kroger Co., based here, while Erlanger, Ky.-based Remke Markets and Milford, Ohio-based Bigg's Supermarkets snapped up one each.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Sears, Roebuck and Co. here has agreed to acquire ownership or leasehold interest in up to 61 off-mall stores in key Sears markets from Kmart Holding Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. for approximately $620 million in cash.