The acquisition of US Foods by food distributor Sysco is not likely to happen in the current year as expected and its talks to secure an approval from antitrust regulators are still going on.
In December 2013, Sysco announced that it would buy US Foods for $3.5bn from its private equity owners including KKR & Co, Reuters reported.
Jointly, Sysco and US Foods have over $65bn in sales. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is closely monitoring the deal between the two top food distributors.
The deal was expected to close before October.
The two companies together would have the geographic reach to offer country-wide contracts for a variety of goods to customers from hotel chains to fast food restaurants.
The Wall Street quoted Sysco chief executive Bill DeLaney as saying: "We're at a point now where we're certainly talking to the right people. We're having the right conversations. And it's taking longer than what we originally projected."
Sysco now expects the acquisition to close in the first quarter of 2015.
