Unified Obtains an Additional $25 Million of Long-Term Debt

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unified Grocers ("Unified" or the "Company"), the largest wholesale grocery distributor in the western United States, announced today that it has closed a transaction with the John Hancock Life Insurance Company and borrowed an additional $25 million from the Boston-based financial institution. The funds will be used to reduce borrowings under the Company's line of credit.

The new debt is comprised of 10-year fixed rate senior secured notes at 6.82 percent. These new notes are part of a note purchase agreement covering the Company's existing $86 million in senior secured fixed rate notes with John Hancock, which mature in 2016.

"We will use this money to pay down our line of credit and maintain our already-strong balance sheet," said Al Plamann, president and chief executive officer, Unified Grocers. "At the same time, we feel it also is critically important to garner as much liquidity as possible, particularly in these difficult economic times. These additional funds will provide us with more flexibility to take advantage of opportunities and have resources available to help our member retailers grow.

"John Hancock has been a supportive long-term lender and business partner of Unified and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them for many years to come," Plamann said.

Founded in 1922, Unified Grocers, Inc. is a retailer-owned wholesale grocery distributor that supplies independent retailers throughout the western United States. Unified and its subsidiaries, which generated approximately $4.1 billion in sales during fiscal 2009, offer independent retailers all the resources they need to compete in the supermarket industry.

The Unified Grocers, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1214

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the future performance of Unified Grocers based on Management's assumptions and beliefs in light of information currently available to it. There are a variety of factors that could cause actual and future results to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements made above. These factors are outlined in the Company's Form 10-K and other interim reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Furthermore, Unified undertakes no obligation to update, amend or clarify forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.