Empire Company has a long history of acquisitions: •
1976 Lawton's Drug Stores Limited, which operated 18 stores in Nova Scotia. •
November 1980 – July 1981 Empire acquires Sobey Holdings Limited, gaining a 50.97% stake in the company. •
February 1983 Empire ups its ownership of
Hannaford Bros. Co., an American food retailer, to 25% (Sold in 2000) •
June 1987 Empire buys the remaining 49.03% of Sobeys, making it an entirely owned subsidiary. (Sold in 1998, re-bought in 2007) •
1987 Empire buys out its partner in Empire Theatres, turning it into an entirely owned subsidiary. •
May 1988 Empire buys a 25% stake in Provigo. •
1988 Empire acquires an additional 22% stake in Wajax, resulting in a total ownership of 45%. •
June 1989 Empire re-purchases the outstanding share of Atlantic Shopping Centres, making it an entirely owned subsidiary. •
December 1993 Empire Real Estate buys 64% of Halifax Developments, Ltd; making it an entirely owned subsidiary. •
December 1998 Empire buys
Oshawa Group for $1.5 billion. •
January 2001 Empire Real Estate buys a 35.7% stake in
Genstar Developmental Partnership for $29 million. •
February 2004 Sobey's acquires Commisso's Food Markets, and Empire Real Estate acquires Commisso's real estate for a total of $103.5 million. •
September 2005 Empire Theatres acquires 27 more theatres. •
August 2006 Sobey's acquires Achille de la Chevrotière Ltée, including its grocery chain of about 25 stores in Quebec and Ontario. This costs $79.2 million. •
July 15, 2007 Empire re-buys the remaining outstanding Sobey's share, making it once again an entirely owned subsidiary. •
September 2007 Sobeys buys Thrifty Foods for $256.6 million. •
2011 Sobeys purchases 236 retail gas locations for $214.9 million in Québec and Atlantic Canada. •
June 2013 Empire buys all of
Safeway Canada's stores for $5.8 billion •
September 2018 Empire announces intent to buy
Farm Boy stores in an $800 million deal. •
March 2021 Empire announces it will buy 51% stake in
Longo's and its Grocery Gateway e-commerce business for $357 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of Empire's 2022 financial year. ==Sales of Subsidiaries/Interests==