A “group listening session” hosted by Arizona Legal professional Basic Kris Mayes on Tuesday in Tucson will concentrate on the proposed $25 billion merger between grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger — homeowners of shops akin to Safeway and Fry’s.

Mayes is probing whether or not to try to dam the combining of the chains, which might lead to a single firm controlling greater than 5,000 shops throughout the nation, and develop into the second-largest grocery operation after Walmart.

The 2-hour assembly will start at 11 a.m. at Catalina United Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway. Those that want to attend are requested to RSVP on-line.

The merger, anticipated to be finalized in 2024, was initiated by the businesses final October, and has resulted in lawsuits by clients and a evaluate by the Federal Commerce Fee. Federal regulation prohibits mergers with outcomes that “could also be considerably to reduce competitors, or are inclined to create a monopoly.”

Arizona’s legal professional basic is weighing whether or not to have the state take part efforts to dam the merger on aggressive grounds.

“AG Mayes held a listening session on this matter yesterday in Kingman. Extra listening classes shall be introduced in places throughout Arizona within the coming weeks,” her workplace mentioned final Thursday.

In Arizona, Kroger operates the Smith’s and Fry’s Meals chains, whereas Albertsons operates the shops beneath that identify in addition to the Safeway chain.

Albertsons purchased Safeway in 2015, and was required to dump about 150 shops as a situation of that merger, in an effort to protect some competitors within the market. Amongst them have been shops in Tucson that have been bought by the regional Haggen chain. That firm was overextended by the acquisition, and filed for chapter after a number of months. Albertsons then regained management of the shops.