The power struggle for control of Supervalu and its board has gotten worse. Initially Blackwells, which holds roughly 2 percent of Supervalu's shares, announced plans to nominate three director candidates to Supervalus nine-member board; however, now Blackwells is looking to nominate six candidates. "Such an attempt effectively seeks control of the company, without paying a premium to all stockholders, and clearly seeks representation that is highly disproportionate to Blackwells’ stake, which is approximately 2 percent of Supervalu shares when excluding out-of-the-money options held by Blackwells," according to the company.

The Supervalu board of directors issued a statement defending its board as well as the company's efforts to strategically transform its business to be the grocery supplier of choice for U.S. retailers.

"The board and management team are committed to delivering value for all stockholders, have been and continue to proactively develop and pursue opportunities to create stockholder value, and remain open-minded regarding ideas that enhance stockholder value," according to the statement.

"The execution of our wholesale strategy is showing results, as we have added more than $5 billion in run rate sales in the last two years to bring our Wholesale business to nearly $13 billion, or approximately 75 percent of the company’s total annual sales," according to the board. "We have appointed new leadership in wholesale to drive operational improvements and ensure smooth integrations of two key acquisitions. We have also appointed new leadership in retail to make fundamental changes to this business and better align initiatives with our wholesale operations."

With the sale of Save-A-Lot for approximately $1.3 billion at the end of 2016, and the recent agreements to sell 21 of 38 Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy stores, Supervalu has moved forward with its strategy, which was publicly announced prior to Blackwells’ involvement in the company, and has significantly grown its wholesale business.

According to the board, it and the management team already have Supervalu’s transformation strategy well under way, and do not believe the changes to the board proposed by Blackwells are necessary to ensure the continued execution of the company’s initiatives to create stockholder value.

As previously disclosed, members of the board and management team have had several discussions and meetings with representatives of Blackwells over the last several months to discuss overlapping objectives and attempt to reach a constructive path forward. Nonetheless, Blackwells has chosen to respond with a public campaign and an attempt to take effective control of the company.

However, and as previously announced, Supervalu is committed to board refreshment and will consider Blackwells’ candidates as we would any other potential directors to assess their ability to add value to the board and the company for the benefit of all stockholders.