Wal-Mart to Sell McLane, Merit

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced on May 2 that it had signed agreements to sell its McLane Co. business and Merit Distribution Services for about $1.5 billion total.

The Bentonville retailer’s sales figures (see above) don’t include McLane, a Temple, Texas, grocery-distribution unit, which Wal-Mart agreed to sell to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in early May. If McLane sales were included, the total sales increase would have been 9.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has also signed a letter of intent to sell Merit Distribution, a unit of McLane, to Swift Transportation Co.

Wal-Mart said the McLane deal will allow it to focus on its core retail business and it will create expanded business opportunities for McLane.

Swift Transportation, a Phoenix-based truckload carrier, is buying Merit Distribution, a provider of long-haul trucking services, for about $50 million, the companies said. The Merit deal is expected to close by the end of May.