Spotlight: Safeway Looking for Another Takeover Target

The No. 1 grocer in the West has plans to get even bigger. Speaking to shareholders at their annual meeting this week, Steve Burd, president and CEO of Safeway, said the Pleasanton-based supermarket chain is already hunting for takeover candidates, before its $2.55-billion purchase of Vons Cos. is even cold. “It was the first of what we expect to be a series of mergers for Safeway,” he said. Burd downplayed the announcement Monday by Fred Meyer Inc. that it plans to buy Smith’s Food & Drug.