U.S. FTC to resume scrutiny of Whole Foods merger

WASHINGTON Aug 11 (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators will resume work scrutinizing organic grocer Whole Foods' WFMI.O merger with rival Wild Oats, the Federal Trade Commission said in an order issued on Monday.

The commission, one of two agencies that assesses whether mergers violate antitrust law, set a conference for Aug. 18 to establish a schedule for looking at Whole Foods' purchase of Wild Oats, which was completed in August 2007.

Commissioner Thomas Rosch will preside over the scheduling conference, the order said.

The commission had sought to challenge the merger last year, but Judge Paul Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia refused to issue a preliminary injunction stopping the merger, and it went ahead.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on July 29 that Friedman erred when he turned down a Federal Trade Commission request for an injunction to block the deal, essentially reviving the government's case. (Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by Maureen Bavdek)