Whole Foods' asset sales cleared for Wild Oats

Austin, Texas The Federal Trade Commission has cleared the sale of some Whole Foods Market assets that the grocer had agreed to sell after its 2007 acquisition of Wild Oats, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

After Whole Foods purchased Boulder, Colo.-based rival Wild Oats, the FTC agreed to drop its fight to undo the deal if Whole Foods sold off 32 Wild Oats stores and its brand.

Whole Foods later applied for and received an extension to sell the assets.

On Friday, the FTC said it approved the sale of Wild Oats' intellectual property to Luberski and Wild Oats subsidiary Alfalfa's Markets' intellectual property to A-M Holdings LLC. It denied the sale of those rights to Topco Associates LLC.

The FTC also approved the sale of former Wild Oats stores in Kansas City, Mo., Boulder, Colo., and in Portland, Maine.