Supervalu Inc. on Wednesday named Mark Gross its new chief executive, effective Friday, adding an industry veteran with merger-and-acquisition experience to its ranks as the grocer seeks to spin off its deep-discount chain.

Mr. Gross, 52 years old, will succeed Sam Duncan, whose retirement was previously announced.

Mr. Duncan, who has led the company for three years, will step down from the 11-member board when he retires Feb. 29 and until that time he will continue as a special adviser. Mr. Gross will be appointed to the board March 1.

Mr. Gross joins the company with 20 years of grocery and wholesale leadership experience, including serving as co-president of C&S Wholesale Grocers's overall operations.

For the past decade, he has led Surry Investment Advisors, a grocery industry-advisory firm he founded, where he has "assisted grocery clients on several multibillion-dollar acquisitions and divestitures and consulted with private-equity firms with respect to investments in food retail, distribution and consumer packaged goods sectors," Supervalu said.

In the most recent quarter, Supervalu posted weaker quarterly sales and fewer customer transactions, a setback as the company mulls a spinoff.

On Wednesday, Mr. Gross said he looks forward to working with Eric Claus, who was named chief executive of the deep-discount firm Save-A-Lot in December, as Supervalu continues to explore a spinoff of the business.

Shares of Supervalu, which have fallen 36% over the past three months, were inactive premarket.

Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2016 09:35 ET (14:35 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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