<p>Analysts are speculating that Cerberus Capital Management is preparing to sell some properties of its recently acquired supermarket chain, Albertsons.<img class="small-cropped-image" src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacySmallCroppedImages/albertsons-cerebus-may-21-cropped.jpg" alt="Cropped Images May 20st 2 2013" /><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The credit pact for the $1.15 billion loan requires that Albertsons must in certain cases use all proceeds from sales of secured assets where the loan backing a property is more than 40 percent of the value to pay down debt, with the amount scaling down as the ratio decreases, said unidentified sources cited by Bloomberg.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">This indicates Cerberus is divvying up the company's properties, according to Jonathan Insull, money manager at Crescent Capital Group, which oversees $10 billion of speculative-grade debt.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>"Clearly, asset sales are part of the plan," Insull said in a telephone interview. "It's definitely something they are focusing on."</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Private-equity firm Cerberus, which owned Albertsons- branded stores before leading a group that bought about 870 Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market sites for $3.3 billion in March, may use proceeds from asset sales to help trim the retailer's debt of about $3 billion<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The company’s debt is high compared to competitors. It’s expected to be about 6.5 times adjusted earnings interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by early 2014, which classifies it as highly leveraged. Kroger has a leverage ratio of 2 times and Safeway's is 2.8, Bloomberg data show.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>S&P analyst Charles Pinson-Rose said the firm will likely seek to improve operations by raising the quality of its fresh produce and meat, packaging and store presentation.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130520/BIZ/703299924" target="_new"> Albertsons Report</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
