Marsh Supermarkets

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Marsh Supermarkets, Inc.

Type of Company	Private
Founded	1931
Headquarters	Indianapolis, Indiana
Key people	Frank Lazaran, President and CEO
Industry	Retail (Grocery)
Products	Grocery
Employees	15,000
Slogan	Treat Your Family Well
Website	www.marsh.net

Marsh Supermarkets is a retail food chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with stores throughout Indiana and parts of Ohio.

[edit] History

Founded in 1931 in Muncie, the company went public in 1953 and has since grown to 69 locations. Marsh also owns and operates 37 LoBill Foods stores, 8 O'Malia's Food Markets, 162 Village Pantry convenience stores, and 2 Arthur's Fresh Markets. Marsh also operates Crystal Food Services, Primo Banquet Catering and Conference Centers, Floral Fashions, McNamara Florist and Enflora Flowers for Business.

One of Marsh's most distinguishing features has been its innovation^{[citation needed]} and early adoption of retail technology. On June 26, 1974, a Marsh location in Troy, Ohio, became the first grocery store in the world to use a barcode scanner.

[edit] Sale and acquisition

Citing recent losses and increased competition, Marsh announced on November 29, 2005 that it had engaged Merrill Lynch to investigate the possible sale of the company. In April 2006 the company signed a letter of intent to be purchased by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, a Florida-based investment firm that specializes in leveraged buyouts. The deal would allow Sun Capital to purchase all outstanding Marsh shares for $11.13 per share, for a total of approximately $88 million. [1].

On September 27th MSH Supermarkets, Inc., an affiliate of Sun Capital, completed the acquisition of Marsh Supermarkets, Inc. (Nasdaq: MARSA) (Nasdaq: MARSB) ("Marsh") for a total purchase price of approximately $325 million. Frank Lazaran, a former senior executive with more than 30 years of regional supermarket experience, has been appointed President and CEO of Marsh, effective immediately, as a result of Don Marsh's previously announced resignation.

On October 19th, 2006 President and CEO Frank Larazan announced series of store closings to be completed by Thanksgiving, as well as another round of job cuts at the corporate headquarters. Seven LoBill Foods stores, two Arthur's Markets stores, two O'Malia's Food Markets, one Marsh Store, and an unknown quantity of Village Pantry stores will be closed. The V.P. stores close immediately.