Montreal, Nov. 26 - METRO Inc. was advised that The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company confirmed the sale of all of its 11,726,645 METRO shares. The sale of the METRO shares by A&P US is made in connection with financing of the acquisition of Pathmark Stores, Inc. by A&P US, which was previously announced.
METRO exercised the option to buy shares which was granted to it by A&P US. METRO will buy 1.5 million of the METRO shares sold by A&P US, which represents approximately 1.3% of all Class A Subordinate Voting Shares of METRO currently outstanding. The shares purchased by METRO will be cancelled and will be counted against the 4 million Class A Subordinate Voting Shares that METRO is authorized to purchase under the terms of its current normal course issuer bid program.
The transaction is scheduled to close on November 29, 2007. The investor agreement dated August 15, 2005, between METRO and A&P US will also terminate on that date.