US: FTC moves to undo Whole Foods, Wild Oats deal

By: just-food.com | 25 October 2007

US regulator the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has unexpectedly revisited the acquisition of Wild Oats Markets by the larger natural foods retailer Whole Foods Market.

The FTC, which failed this summer to block the acquistion on anti-trust grounds, is now trying to disrupt the merger by asking a Washington court to overturn the Federal District Court ruling in August that finally sanctioned the deal.

An appeal at this stage is a highly unusual step and is considered by experts to be unlikely to be successful. "It will be very difficult for the FTC to get this decision reversed," Paul Yde, an antitrust partner at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and a former FTC official, was quoted as saying in the US. Yde added that the District Court Judge's original opinion "was very strong".

Earlier this month, Whole Foods filed a motion with the appellate court to dismiss the case as moot because the merger had now been completed, but on Monday the FTC said an appeal was warranted. The FTC is seeking to prevent the companies from continuing to combine certain operations until a full review of the deal has been completed.

Neither the FTC nor Whole Foods has commented on the development.

Whole Foods completed its protracted US$565m acquisition of Wild Oats Markets on 27 August.

Companies: Wild Oats, Whole Foods Market