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Fresh Market to be bought by Apollo for more than $1.3B

FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, file photo, Lisa Green helps to get the cheese department ready at The Fresh Market in Jacksonville, Fla. The Fresh Market, a grocery store chain, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo for more than $1.3 billion. Fresh Market, based in Greensboro, N.C., has nearly 190 stores around the country. Apollo Global Management LLC is based in New York. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. (Bruce Lipsky/The Florida Times-Union via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT FILE - In this Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, file photo, Lisa Green helps to get the cheese department ready at The Fresh Market in Jacksonville, Fla. The Fresh Market, a grocery store chain, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo for more than $1.3 billion. Fresh Market, based in Greensboro, N.C., has nearly 190 stores around the country. Apollo Global Management LLC is based in New York. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016. (Bruce Lipsky/The Florida Times-Union via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT

By Associated Press March 14, 2016 1 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – The Fresh Market, a grocery store chain, has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Apollo for more than $1.3 billion.

The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, comes after Fresh Market said in October that it was seeking to possibly sell itself.

Apollo said Monday that it is paying $28.50 for each share of Fresh Market, a 24 percent premium of the stock’s closing price of $22.98 on Friday.

Fresh Market, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, has nearly 190 stores around the country. Apollo’s holdings include Twinkie maker Hostess and the Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. Apollo is based in New York.

Shares of The Fresh Market Inc. soared $5.45, or almost 24 percent, to $28.43 in morning trading Monday while Apollo Global Management LLC Class A shares edged up 18 cents to $17.08.