TG&Y; Stores to Be Sold to New York Firm

A group of investors purchasing Household Merchandising Inc. for $700 million will sell its TG&Y; Stores Co. unit to Rapid-American Corp., the parties said Thursday.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

Household Merchandising is a subsidiary of Household International Corp. of Chicago, which is in the process of selling it in a leveraged buy-out to a group of investors led by the New York brokerage firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

In a leveraged buy-out, the buyers borrow money to make the purchase and repay it with the acquired company’s earnings or the sale of its assets.

Besides TG&Y;, Household Merchandising units include 176 Vons supermarkets in California and Nevada, 1,629 Ben Franklin variety stores and 1,079 Coast-to-Coast hardware stores.

Rapid-American is a New York-based concern with interests in apparel, retailing and alcoholic beverages.

Variety Store Subsidiary

It said TG&Y;, an Oklahoma City-based chain of 739 stores, which has annual revenue of $2 billion, will become part of its variety store subsidiary, McCrory Corp.

McCrory, which now operates 748 variety stores, had revenue of $918 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 1985, Rapid-American said.

The announcement said TG&Y; will operate as a separate entity.

Rapid-American said the acquisition was expected to be completed by early next month.

Peter Grauer, who heads the Household Merchandising buy-out for Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Richard Pehlke, spokesman for Household International, confirmed the deal, but they also declined to reveal the purchase price for TG&Y.;