WSJ: Cerberus Capital Management willing to pay more than $9 billion for Safeway

NEW YORK — Cerberus Capital Management is attempting to lock down a deal to secure Safeway as part of an acquisition that could exceed $9 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. 

Citing people familiar with the matter, the only thing standing in the way of a Cerberus acquisition of Safeway is Kroger, which has expressed interest in making its own bid for the country's second-largest supermarket chain. As Kroger is the largest supermarket chain, antitrust risk may give Cerberus the inside track on finalizing a deal, perhaps sometime this week, according to the report. 

WSJ noted that Cerberus also made a run for the Harris Teeter chain, but lost out on that bid to Kroger, which agreed to pay $2.4 billion in the acquisition of the North Carolina grocer.