Austin, Texas-based natural foods grocer Whole Foods Market on Tuesday said it closed the $565 million acquisition of smaller rival Wild Oats Markets Inc., despite opposition from U.S. regulators. When they first announced the deal, on February 21st, the two companies estimated a probable date for the merger in April this year, but unexpected fierce opposition from the government has delayed the process a few months.

"While closing this merger has taken longer than we anticipated, we are very excited to now begin the integration process," Whole Foods Chairman and Chief Executive John Mackey said in an official company statement.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission tried to argue that the merger between the organic food grocer and its smaller rival will not be healthy for the competition in the market for natural and organic groceries. The Commission tried to block the merger through a lawsuit filed in June, but a judge rejected FTC's arguments. Subsequently, an appeals court has denied to block the deal.

Some Wild Oats stores will be closed, and others that overlap with Whole Foods stores in development will be relocated, the companies have previously said. Whole Foods has nearly 200 stores in the United States, Canada and Britain and had 2006 sales of almost $6 billion. Wild Oats of Boulder, Colo., has 110 stores in 24 U.S. states and British Columbia and a little more than $1 billion in annual sales.

Whole Foods Chief Executive John Mackey was found to have posted messages on the Internet under a fake name("Rahodeb," an anagram of his wife's name), panning Wild Oats. A federal investigation is looking into the postings which may result in official charges against Mackey. Apart from trashing Wild Oats, he also lauded Whole Foods in the fake postings.