LOS ANGELES—Haggen Inc., a Pacific Northwest-based grocer, has purchased 146 Pavilions, Albertsons, Safeway and Vons grocery stores throughout the West Coast. The purchase is part of the divestiture agreement in the merger between Albertsons and Safeway. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of the year.

Haggen is purchasing the largest number of stores, increasing its footprint from 18 stores to 164 stores throughout Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Nevada. The purchase will require that the grocer quintuple its current staff to 10,000 employees. Of the 146 stores purchased, 86 stores are located in California, which makes the state Haggen's largest market in terms of store numbers.

Akerman LLP's corporate and real estate practice groups represented Haggen in the complicated transaction, which included reviewing and conducting due diligence on all 146 properties in 30 days, along with the review of title, survey, property conditions and zoning issues. The hearty team of 19 lawyers and real estate professionals included partners Nathan Balint and Jed Freeland, co-chair of the mergers and acquisitions and private equity practice Carl Roston, and Sue Zabloudil, partner and Real Estate Practice Group leader, and John Wood, partner, who served as the lead real estate lawyers. The team noted the challenging timeline and the highly competitive nature of the deal as some of the challenges associated with the transaction.

We were unable to get a comment from them before the publication of this transaction, but will update the story with more information as it becomes available.