Buyer Beware of Heritage Grocers Group Labor Risks and Dispute, says new UFCW website

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Potential acquirers of Heritage Grocers Group are encouraged to visit a new website entitled DontAcquireHeritageGrocers.com released today by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, the union representing 1.2 million grocery, retail and food workers in the U.S. and Canada.

The website informs prospective buyers of Heritage Grocers Group about labor organizing, litigation and operational risks as owner Apollo Global Management [NYSE: APO] seeks to sell the grocer. Heritage Grocers Group operates 115 grocery stores under the banners Cardenas Markets, Los Altos Ranch Market, Tony’s Fresh Market, and El Rancho Supermercado, and is a portfolio company of Apollo Fund IX.

The website highlights risks in the following categories, and encourages prospective buyers to deepen their due diligence around these matters:

• Union organizing drives and a protracted labor dispute across multiple states
• Labor-related litigation including allegations of sexual harassment and violations of California Labor Code
• Crisis in immigrant communities affecting Heritage’s customers and workers
• Leadership instability in the executive suite
• And poor operating performance leading to debt rating downgrades

“Labor risks at Cardenas Markets and its parent Heritage Grocers are growing and should be evaluated by prospective buyers and lenders alike,” says Courtney Alexander, UFCW research lead.

For more information, visit https://dontacquireheritagegrocers.com/.

Contacts

Finn Storer at press@ufcw.org