NEW YORK (Reuters) -Northeast Grocery, Inc., the parent company of Price Chopper and Tops Friendly Markets, is exploring a sale, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

The company is working with investment bank UBS on the sale process, which is attracting interest from private equity firms and other grocers, the people said, asking not to be named since the sale is private. The Schenectady, New York-based company operates nearly 300 stores across New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.

Northeast Grocery, which was formed in 2021 through the merger of regional chains Price Chopper - Market 32 and Tops, could fetch a valuation of over $1 billion, including debt, the people said. It generates almost $250 million of annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, they said. 

"In building on the strength of our 2021 merger, Northeast Grocery, Inc. remains focused on offering quality products at a strong value and providing exceptional customer service across its six-state footprint," a spokesperson for Northeast Grocery said. "We continually explore opportunities to grow our business in a variety of ways, including but not limited to mergers, acquisitions or otherwise. Any further characterizations at this point would be purely speculative."

UBS declined to comment.

The Golub family founded Price Chopper in 1932 in New York. Tops, founded in 1962, was also launched by a family in New York before going through a series of ownership changes. It filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and emerged later that year. When the chains merged a few years ago, they said the increased scale would make them a more competitive company.