NEW YORK — A&amp ;P Inc. said Wednesday it will purchase Walmart Corp. for $5.5 billion, or about $2.7 billion more than the $2 billion price tag initially reported.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, will allow the U.S. retail giant to compete with other major chains including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kroger Co. on the same shelves.

In addition to acquiring the largest grocery retailer in the world, A&P also plans to build a large-format store in New York’s Greenwich Village, a shopping center and a chain of luxury hotels in the U: Hotel Brooklyn, the flagship hotel and spa, the company said in a statement.

The deal will allow A&p to take advantage of Walmart’s deep-pocketed operations in its core markets, where it has been successful, including its distribution network, logistics, retail, pharmacy and health care.

Walmart has more than 30,000 stores worldwide, including more than 2,300 in the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Walmart has more then 8,000 employees in the country, and A&.

P plans to bring in more than 1,000 new positions a year, according a company spokeswoman.

While many companies have been expanding their grocery operations, A.P. will be able to tap into its large catalogs of packaged foods and make its products more accessible to a wider variety of consumers.

Walmart, which has been battling declining sales for more than a year amid lower-than-expected profit, had been seeking to scale back its grocery operations and focus on other retailing ventures.

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