on the block

One reason the company is not likely to find one buyer for all of its assets, the report says, is because its portfolio is very mixed. Strong-performing chains that the grocer owns include the 211-store Shaw's in New England, the 137-store Acme in the Mid-Atlantic and Jewel/Osco, with 203 units in the Midwest. Lehman also rated the company's 695 stand-alone drugstores under the Savon and Osco banners as high value.

But many more stores are in tougher markets. The 453 stores in Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas face growing competition from Wal-Mart Supercenters. Many of these stores, according to Lehman, could sell as individual properties.

The 151 units in the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are a "mixed bag of stores and markets." In some of these areas, the grocer lags at the number four spot behind some of its competitors and, again, faces growing pressure from Wal-Mart.