|
|
|
e-News
|
|
Done deal: Whole Foods completes Wild Oats buyout |
08.31.2007
|
AUSTIN, Texas--Six months after the rival natural supermarkets announced an agreement, Whole Foods acquired Wild Oats Market in a $565 million deal.
By the end of the week, Whole Food Market will have purchased 96.8 percent of Wild Oat's common stock.
STORY CONTINUES BELOWAdvertisement
Whole Foods was able to consummate the buyout after the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., denied the Federal Trade Commission's effort to block the merger late on Aug. 23.
Six month ago, the rival natural supermarkets announced the merger. Citing antitrust issues, the FTC and consumer groups filed a lawsuit to block the deal in June. On Aug. 16, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Friedman gave the deal a green light; The FTC filed an appeal on Aug. 17.
Whole Foods Market Inc. purchased 84.1 percent of Wild Oats Markets' outstanding common stock in a cash tender offer of $18.50 per share on Aug. 28, and will purchase 12.7 percent more by the end of the week, according to a joint statement.
As part of the deal, Whole Foods Market has also assumed existing debt, net of cash, totaling approximately $137 million. Whole Foods Market has entered into a five-year $700 million senior term loan agreement to fund the transaction, and has signed a new five-year $250 million revolving credit agreement, which will replace its existing $200 million revolver.
In related news, Whole Foods Market said it will sell all 35 Henry's and Sun Harvest stores and a Riverside, Calif., distribution center to a wholly owned subsidiary of Smart & Final Inc., a Los Angeles-based food retailer. The transaction is expected to close by late September.
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market had sales of $5.6 billion in fiscal year 2006 and has 307 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
