Supermarkets General has agreed to be acquired.

The investor group making the $1.8-billion offer is led by a unit of Merrill Lynch & Co. and some senior executives of Supermarkets General, but does not include Supermarkets General’s chairman and chief executive, Leonard Lieberman. Under terms of the agreement, the group would make a cash tender offer of $46.75 a share for up to 32.8 million, or 85%, of the Newark, N.J.-based company’s 39.7 million total common shares and equivalents outstanding.