RETAILING

FTC OKs Merger of Ralphs, Food 4 Less: The Federal Trade Commission said it will allow Food 4 Less Supermarkets to acquire Ralphs Grocery Co. under the terms of an agreement the two supermarket chains reached with the California attorney general. Under the settlement reached in December with Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, Ralphs and Food 4 Less--operator of the Alpha Beta, Boys, Viva and Food 4 Less warehouse stores--agreed to sell 27 of their nearly 400 Southern California stores to satisfy Lungren’s concerns about an anti-competitive environment. The two chains are expected to merge operations some time in March and the combined company will be called Ralphs Grocery Co. Food 4 Less Supermarkets is controlled by Yucaipa Cos., a Los Angeles-based holding company. In other developments, Yucaipa announced that it has acquired Dominick’s Finer Foods Inc., a 100-store supermarket chain based in the Chicago area, for more than $500 million.