Whole Foods Divestiture Continues

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently took action on the divestiture of certain Whole Foods Market Inc.’s assets as part of the consent order that concluded antitrust litigation the agency brought to challenge Whole Foods’ 2007 acquisition of Wild Oats Market, Inc. According to an FTC news release, the Whole Foods divestiture trustee sought approval to sell three Wild Oats stores and certain intellectual property. FTC commissioners approved the sale of Wild Oats stores in Kansas City, Missouri; Boulder, Colorado; and Portland, Maine. While allowing the sale of Wild Oats’ and Alfalfa Markets’ intellectual property to proceed as to Luberski, Inc., and A-M Holdings, LLC, the FTC denied a proposal to sell their intellectual property to Topco Associates LLC, apparently finding that this sale would not satisfy the purposes of intellectual property divestiture. See FTC Press Release, June 18, 2010; Naturalproductsmarketplace.com, June 21, 2010.