Pathmark to be bought for $689.7 million

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., the owner of A&P; and Food Emporium supermarkets, agreed to buy Pathmark Stores Inc. for $689.7 million to expand in the Northeast.

If the deal is approved, Pathmark investors would get about $13.21 a share -- $9 in cash and 0.13 of a share of Great Atlantic stock for each Pathmark share, the New Jersey-based firms said. The new chain would have 550 stores, mostly in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and annual sales of about $11 billion.