Court Stalls Whole Foods Merger

FTC wins 2 days to argue that $565M Wild Oats deal would ruin competition
By Heather McPherson,  Newser User
Posted Aug 21, 2007 7:18 AM CDT
Court Stalls Whole Foods Merger
Jodi May, center, shops with her daughters, Issa, 7, in the shopping cart, and Raina, 6, at the Wild Oats Natural Marketplace, in this July 17, 2007 file photo, in Woodmere Village, Ohio. Consumer prices, which had been surging earlier in the year, edged up a tiny 0.1 percent last month, the smallest...   (Associated Press)

A federal court issued a temporary injunction yesterday preventing Whole Foods from buying Wild Oats—at least today. The three-judge panel wants extra time to consider the FTC's argument that combining the nation's two largest organic food retailers would destroy competition. The companies will file additional briefs by tomorrow, and the FTC will have a day to rebut.

The accelerated timetable suggests that that the FTC's appeal is "on its last gasp," a lawyer involved in the case tells Bloomberg. The companies were about to finalize the $565 million deal yesterday when the injunction, which the judges said "should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits," came down. (More Whole Foods stories.)

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