Five things to know about the Ahold/Delhaize merger

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1. Both companies have a Central Pennsylvania presence.

Ahold’s Giant-Carlisle division is headquartered in Cumberland County and operates about 200 supermarkets under the brands Giant Food Stores and Martin’s Food Markets. Giant-Carlisle territory spans from northern Pennsylvania to Richmond, Va., and also includes stores in Maryland and West Virginia, Ahold USA spokesman Chris Brand said.  

Delhaize owns Food Lion, which operates stores in the York, Hanover and Chambersburg areas.

RELATED: Royal Ahold, parent of Carlisle-based Giant Food, confirms $26B merger talks

2. Ahold is the giant partner.

Though the news release described the proposed arrangement as a “merger of equals,” Food Lion’s parent company Delhaize is not king of the jungle here.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ahold had about $36.70 billion in 2014 annual revenue, while Delhaize had about $23.95 billion. Delhaize stakeholders will be receiving Ahold shares, and Ahold shareholders will retain 61 percent of the combined company’s equity. 

3. Ahold is ending its share buyback program.

The company had repurchased nearly 8.8 million common shares since Feb. 26, including 200,000 on June 22 and June 23 . The company had been aggressive with the program in June, but it ended the program in connection with the merger.

RELATED: Ahold reports biggest week of latest stock repurchase plan

4. Other area grocery store chains are positioning themselves as the local alternative.

Take Karns Quality Foods, which has eight stores in Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties, in the heart of Giant Foods territory. Spokeswoman Andrea Karns cited Karns as a local grocer in the midst of global business forces.

“We’re looking at two international companies joining together, both of which we currently compete against, or have in the past,” Karns said. “We’re going to continue to use local products and compete with the international guys and do what we’ve been doing.”

Brand emphasized that Giant works with about 70 local farms, including about 40 in Pennsylvania. 

RELATED: Royal Ahold, parent of Giant Food, in ‘final stages’ of merger talks

5. More grocery mergers and acquisitions could be on the way.

According to financial website Seeking Alpha, retail analysts think this could be just the beginning of M&A in the grocery sector as Wal-Mart and other retail chains pressure smaller players.

Weis Markets Inc. is among the grocery chains Seeking Alpha placed on M&A watch. A spokesman for Weis Markets declined to comment for this story.