Ralcorp’s cereal deal clears antitrust barrier
Ralcorp Holdings Inc.’s $2.6 billion deal to buy the Post cereal business from Kraft Foods Inc. has broken through a federal antitrust barrier.
Ralcorp, the St. Louis-based maker of private label cereal bars, crackers, jellies and cookies, said the Federal Trade Commission granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The Act’s waiting period is meant to provide the FTC with time to evaluate whether a proposed transaction, such as the pending Post buyout, raises competitive concerns.
Ralcorp said it has also received clearance from Canada’s Competition Bureau.
The transaction is expected to close by mid-2008, but it is still ”subject to satisfaction of other conditions,” including approval by Ralcorp’s shareholders, Ralcorp said in a press release.
That approval appears to be a “shoe-in,” Wachovia analyst Jonathan Feeney wrote in a note to clients. ”We believe this to be a very sensible acquisition for both parties.”
Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
I can finally buy Ralston Hot Cereal again?
Hot Ralston never went away; I have a box in my pantry as I write this. I don’t expect literacy from a stock analyst, but I do from a copy desk–it’s “shoo-in,” not “shoe-in.”