Offer to Buy Foodarama Accepted

FREEHOLD, N.J. -- Owners of 39.5 percent of Foodarama Supermarkets, Inc. here, which owns 26 ShopRite supermarkets, have accepted an offer to buy the company from an investor group including the company's founders, the Sakers.

Now the group will own 91 percent of the shares and be able to take the public corporation private. The group already owned 51.5 percent of the company's shares. Conditions of the deal included that the group amass 90 percent of the outstanding shares, which the company says it has done. Altogether, owners of 416,666 shares agreed to accept the offer.

The group's $53-a-share offer was one dollar higher than its first offer on Dec. 2 and a 43 percent premium over the Dec. 1 closing price of $37 per share.

The group has until midnight today, Monday, to actually purchase the shares, Foodarama c.f.o. Michael Shapiro told the Asbury Park, N.J. Press. To do that, it must secure a loan from General Motors Acceptance Corp. of $105 million.

New York-based dissident shareholder Alan Kahn was unsuccessful in recent attempt to block the tender offer through a preliminary injunction. Kahn's lawsuit, which claims that the group is strong-arming minority stockholders to sell their stock for much less than it's worth, is still pending, however, according to his lawyer.
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