In a move to make their proposed mega-merger more appealing to federal and state regulators, Kroger and Albertsons unveiled Monday revisions to their divestiture proposal with C&S Wholesale Grocers.

With the updated plan, C&S would pick up an additional 166 stores for a total purchase of 579 divested stores across 18 states and Washington, D.C. As part of that, C&S would also acquire Albertsons’ Haggen banner in addition to the three other banners — QFC, Mariano’s and Carrs — it already was slated to purchase.

The proposed $2.9 billion deal would also see C&S nab additional non-store assets such as more infrastructure and access to Albertsons’ Signature and O Organics private brands. The updated plan “will further ensure that C&S can successfully operate the divested stores as they are operated today," Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen said in a statement.

Kroger and Albertsons said in a filing last April with the Securities and Exchange Commission that they are willing to divest up to 650 stores to appease regulators. 

With more than 2,000 stores each across the U.S., Kroger and Albertsons at times overlap with their store fleets, particularly along the West Coast and in the Chicago area, according to a map published by the grocers. 

Albertsons and Kroger’s store fleets overlap heavily in several markets across the U.S.

Changes between the original and new divestiture package indicate Kroger and Albertsons have sharpened their focus on offloading stores in markets where they overlap extensively. 

The newly revised divestiture package would offload hundreds of stores in Western states, including 124 in Washington state, 101 in Arizona and 91 in Colorado. In Illinois, the grocers are now looking to sell to C&S 35 Albertsons and Kroger stores — more than double then what they initially proposed. 

In some markets, Kroger and Albertsons have slightly pulled back, such as offering up one fewer store in the greater Washington, D.C. area and in the Montana, Utah and Wyoming area. New Mexico, Idaho and California each would get three fewer stores than originally proposed.

While Kroger and Albertsons have not drastically changed the number of stores in California they plan to offload, they have switched from offering up a combination of Kroger and Albertsons locations to solely Albertsons-run locations. 

Meanwhile, in Illinois, the companies added an unspecified number of Albertsons stores so C&S would pick up a combination of Kroger and Albertsons locations in that state. 

If the divestiture deal gets approved, C&S would nearly quadruple its number of retail stores, which totaled roughly 160 last fall with corporate stores and services independent franchisees under the Piggly Wiggly banner and 11 Grand Union stores in New York and Vermont. 

Most of C&S’s existing stores are located in Wisconsin and South Carolina under the Piggly Wiggly banner. 

"We are confident this expanded divestiture package will provide the stores, supporting assets and expert operators needed to ensure these stores continue to successfully serve their communities for many generations to come," C&S CEO Eric Winn said in a statement. "C&S is a leader in the grocery industry, and we are excited for this expansion of our current retail business, which is a key part of our long-term growth strategy.”

Illinois is the only state where C&S currently operates retail locations and plans to pick up divested stores. 

Under the revised divestiture plan, C&S would pick up the most stores (124) in Washington state — accounting for just more than one-fifth of the total divested stores.

The revised plan would also see C&S enter Delaware as a grocery retailer with an unspecified number of stores. 

While the new plan said C&S would buy nine locations in the Washington, D.C., metro area; 30 across Texas and Louisiana; and 11 across Montana, Wyoming and Utah, it’s unclear how that store count would break down for each of those states.