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Changes on the street

Dec. 13, 2010

Atkins Nutritionals, an international weight control and nutrition brand that sells its products at some 30,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and abroad, was acquired by private equity firm Roark Capital Group.Financial terms of the transaction were not released.

Toops Scoops

Meanwhile, A&P retail chain, formally known as the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The company said it will continue to operate as it goes through the reorganization process and that it has access to $800 million in debtor in possession financing to continue to pay vendors.

"We have taken this difficult but necessary step to enable A&P to fully implement our comprehensive financial and operational restructuring," said CEO Sam Martin. "While we have made substantial progress on the operational and merchandising aspects of our turnaround plan, we concluded that we could not complete our turnaround without availing ourselves of Chapter 11. It will allow us to restructure our debt, reduce our structural costs, and address our legacy issues."

A flurry of options trading has led to speculation that SaraLee Corp. is on the block, reports Bloomberg. The company is getting rid of businesses, such as its North American fresh bread division, to focus on faster -growing areas such as meat and coffee. Sara Lee recently completed the sale of its body care and European detergents business to Unilever for $1.6 billion. At the same time, the company said it has received "significant interest" in the rest of its household business, which includes shoe-care and Asian cleaning brands.