Blue Apron surges after Kroger buys a rival

Blue Apron surges after Kroger buys a rival

• Blue Apron is up more than 5% Thursday after Kroger announced it will acquire the meal-kit-delivery company Home Chef. 

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• Kroger agreed to buy Home Chef for an initial payment of $200 million. The deal, which is set to close in a month, may include payments of up to $500 million over the next five years, given that certain milestones are met. Kroger plans on selling the Home Chef meal kits on its grocery store 
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• shelves and online.
• Previously, analysts have suggested that Blue Apron's best bet for a recovery would be to be bought out by a bigger company. In February, the meal-kit maker rose nearly 7% after a Gabelli & Co analyst wrote Walmart would be a "logical buyer." 
• Blue Apron investors may be taking Kroger's acquisition of Home Chef as a signal that another big player could make a play in the meal-kit-delivery space. Blue Apron shares have lost almost 70% of their value since the company went public in June 2017.
• Blue Apron is down more than 22% this year. 
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