The president and chief executive of restaurant distributor Performance Food Group Co. plans to step down.

Steven Spinner said he would leave his post if shareholders approve a proposed merger between Colorado-based Vistar Corp. and Performance at its shareholders meeting May 14.

George Holm, Vistar's president and chief executive officer, would become the chief executive of the combined company, which would be known as Performance Food Group.

If approved, Performance will be sold to private-equity firms Blackstone Group and Wellspring Capital Management LLC for $1.3 billion. Those firms intend to merge it with their Vistar unit.

Vistar is a smaller food-service company and owns Roma Food Enterprises, a distributor to pizzerias and Italian restaurants

When announcing the deal in January, Spinner assured investors that the company would not leave its Goochland County headquarters.

A spokesman for Blackstone declined to comment yesterday on whether it intends to move Performance's headquarters.

"We know the company's headquarters will remain in Richmond, Virginia, and we expect there will be little to no impact on our operations," Spinner told investors in January.

Spinner has been Performance's CEO since October 2006.

Holm has been an executive in the food-service distribution industry for 28 years.

Performance is a distributor of food and food-service products such as cleaning supplies and glasses to restaurants, hotels, schools and other institutions. Clients include Outback Steakhouse, Ruby Tuesday, Cracker Barrel and TGI Friday's.

Last year, it had the full-time equivalent of 627 employees in the Richmond area.
Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.