Ares Management signed an agreement that will see it gain a major stake in Smart & Final Holdings Corp. from global management firm Apollo Global Management. The sale, which stands at $975 million, will be completed by year-end. The senior management of the company will however, maintain a minority stake.

Los Angeles based Smart & Final Holdings is a small format retailer that operates 235 stores with three formats, that is, Smart &Final, Cash &Carry and Smart & Final Extra! The company boasts an everyday low price strategy and ‘warehouse club pack’ offers that gives value to its customers.

Ares Management is a private global management firm that has interests in the food retail sector. Some of these holdings include GNC Holdings in Pittsburgh and 99 Cents Only Stores in Los Angeles. Other interests include Orchard Supply Hardware Stores, National Bedding Company, and Jacuzzi Brands Corporation.

In 2007, Apollo Global Management acquired a stake in Smart & Final for approximately $890 million at Paris-based Groupe Casino that had owned it for 23 years. Then the outfit had 200 warehouses and 55 Cash & Carry stores around the country in six U. S. states with sales of up to $1 billion.

Ares Management will takeover Smart& Final at a time when its sales as at January 2012, when it ended its fiscal year, were about $2 billion. It has 234 stores in California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Washington and Arizona. Of these, 182 are warehouse stores, the Cash and Carry stores are 52. In addition to the 234 stores, it has 13 joint-venture stores in New Mexico.