P.M. BRIEFING : Van de Kamp Asks O’Connor to Block Lucky, Alpha Beta Merger

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp made a last-ditch appeal to a U.S. Supreme Court justice today to block the $2.5-billion merger of the Lucky and Alpha Beta supermarket chains next week.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said late Thursday that it was lifting its order blocking the consolidation of the chains, effective Monday. There was no other comment by the panel of Judges J. Clifford Wallace, Cecil Poole and Diarmuid O’Scanlain.

Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. Andrea Ordin said today that she had called the office of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who fields emergency appeals from the 9th Circuit, asking for a continued stay of the merger and an exemption from the $16.3-million bond imposed on the state by a federal judge.

Because Van de Kamp has decided not to put up a bond, the attempt to block the merger will be abandoned unless O’Connor and her colleagues approve the stay without a bond, Ordin said.

Alpha Beta’s parent company, American Stores, bought Lucky in June, 1988. The two chains have a total of 550 stores, which are to be operated under the Lucky name.

American Stores says customers will save $50 million to $60 million from the merger because of greater efficiency. But Van de Kamp, in a suit filed last September, contended that California customers would pay $400 million more a year because of reduced competition.