Whole Foods Market Receives Tenders for Approximately 96.8 Percent of Wild Oats Markets' Common Stock
August 27 2007 - 6:28PM
PR Newswire (US)
AUSTIN, Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Whole Foods Market, Inc.
(NASDAQ:WFMI) announced today that it has accepted all of the
shares tendered and not withdrawn pursuant to its tender offer for
all of the outstanding shares of Wild Oats Markets (NASDAQ:OATS)
common stock at $18.50 per share, net to the seller in cash without
interest. The tender offer and withdrawal rights expired at 5:00
p.m., Eastern Time, on August 27, 2007. According to the depositary
for the offer, a total of 25,175,997 shares of common stock of Wild
Oats Markets were tendered and not withdrawn prior to the
expiration of the offer, excluding an additional 3,795,973 shares
subject to guaranteed delivery. Stockholders who validly tendered
prior to the expiration of the offer and whose shares were not
properly withdrawn will promptly receive the offer price of $18.50
per share, net to the seller in cash without interest. As a result
of these purchases in the tender offer, Whole Foods Market will own
approximately 84.1 percent of the outstanding shares of Wild Oats
Markets common stock, effective Tuesday, August 28, 2007. In
addition, approximately 12.7 percent of the outstanding shares of
Wild Oats Markets common stock, represented by the shares subject
to guaranteed delivery, will be purchased by Whole Foods Market as
those shares are delivered during the next three business days.
After purchase of the shares guaranteed for delivery, Whole Foods
Market will acquire all of the remaining outstanding shares of Wild
Oats Markets common stock pursuant to the short-form merger
procedure available under Delaware law. In this merger, a
subsidiary of Whole Foods Market will merge with and into Wild Oats
Markets, and Wild Oats Markets will become a wholly owned
subsidiary of Whole Foods Market. In the merger, each share of Wild
Oats Markets' outstanding common stock will be cancelled and will
be converted into the right to receive $18.50 per share, net to the
seller in cash without interest. Thereafter, Wild Oats Markets'
common stock will no longer be traded on Nasdaq. For further
information, please contact: Whole Foods Market Investor Contact --
Cindy McCann, 512.542.0204 Media Contact -- Kate Lowery,
512.542.0390 About Whole Foods Market: Founded in 1980 in Austin,
Texas, Whole Foods Market(R) is a Fortune 500 company and one of
the leading retailers of natural and organic foods. The Company had
sales of $5.6 billion in fiscal year 2006 and currently has 197
stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. About
Wild Oats: Wild Oats Markets, Inc. is a nationwide chain of natural
and organic foods markets in the U.S. and Canada. With more than
$1.2 billion in annual sales, Wild Oats currently operates 109
natural food stores in 23 states and British Columbia, Canada. The
Company's markets include: Wild Oats Marketplace, Henry's Farmers
Market, Sun Harvest and Capers Community Markets. For more
information, please visit Wild Oats' website at
http://www.wildoats.com/. The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor"
statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Except for the historical information contained herein, the
matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking
statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause
our actual results to differ materially from those described in the
forward looking statements. These risks include but are not limited
to general business conditions, the timely development and opening
of new stores, the impact of competition, and other risks detailed
from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the
reports on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 24, 2006.
Whole Foods Market undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: Whole Foods Market, Inc.
CONTACT: Investors, Cindy McCann, +1-512-542-0204, Media, Kate
Lowery, +1-512-542-0390, both of Whole Foods Market, Inc. Web site:
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/
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