in march 1993, supermarkets general wanted to take pathmark public, but backed off due to insufficient investor interest. that october, in a corporate reorganization, supermarkets general corp., a subsidiary of supermarkets general holdings corp., changed its name to "pathmark stores, inc."; in essence, it recapitalized $1.3 billion in outstanding debt. pathmark lowered its interest costs, from 13 percent to 9 percent of revenue, increasing cash flow, which allowed pathmark to increase capital investment. rickel was spun off; it was sold in 1994.