Tag: Competition

The Commission accepted a proposed consent agreement with Quexco Incorporated, a company whose parent entity is Howard M. Meyers. The consent agreement related to the proposed acquisition by Quexco of Pacific Dunlop GNB Corporation, which is owned by Pacific Dunlop Limited. Both companies are involved in the secondary smelting of lead.  The parties subsequently decided to abandon the sale of GNB to Quexco, which eliminated the need for the relief contained in the consent agreement. The Commission voted to withdraw the consent agreement and close the investigation.

Under a settlement with the FTC, ABB agreed to divest the Analytical Division of Elsag Bailey Process Automation N.V. to Siemens Corporation to address FTC concerns that the acquisition of Elsag would substantially reduce competition in the market for process gas chromatographs and process mass spectrometers, analytical instruments used to measure the chemical composition of a gas or liquid used in petrochemical refining, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing, and pulp and paper processing.

Consent order in BP Amoco p.1.c. (created by the merger of British Petroleum Company, p.1.c. and Amoco Corporation) requires the divestiture of 134 gas stations in eight markets and nine Light petroleum products terminals settling charges that the merger would substantially reduce competition in certain wholesale gasoline markets.

Order requires divestiture of 10 supermarkets in Maryland and Pennsylvania to settle antitrust concerns stemming from Ahold's acquisition of Giant Food Inc.

Input/Output, Inc. and The Laitram Corporation each paid $225,000 in civil penalties to settle charges that Input/Output merged its operations with Laitram's DigiCOURSE subsidiary before observing the statutory waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. According to the complaint, the parties filed notification under HSR in October 14,1998, but Input/Output began its control over DigiCOURSE on October 10, 1998. The complaint and settlement were filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Commission attorneys acting as special attorneys to the U.S. Attorney General

A pharmacy association in northern Puerto Rico and Ricardo Alvarez Class settled charges that they engaged in an illegal boycott in an attempt to obtain higher reimbursement rates for pharmacy goods and services under the government's managed care plan for the indigent. The consent order prohibits the members of the association and Mr. Class from engaging in joint negotiations for prices and from threatening to boycott or refusing to provide pharmacy services.

An association of marine pilots in Oregon agreed to settle charges that it monopolized and unreasonably restrained competition in the market for pilotage services on the Columbia River. The consent order prohibits Columbia River Pilots, a group of approximately 40 marine pilots licensed by the state of Oregon to provide navigational assistance to vessels on the Columbia River, from imposing unreasonable noncompete agreements on its members, allocating customers with any competing pilotage group, limiting any competing pilotage group's size, or restricting exclusive dealing contracts or rate proposals.

To settle FTC charges, LaFarge, Corp. agreed to restructure its agreement to purchase certain assets of Holnam, Inc.  LaFarge and Holnam are two of five competitors in the portland cement market in the Puget Sound area. In February 1998, LaFarge and Holnam signed a letter of intent detailing an agreement under which LaFarge would buy Holnam's Seattle cement plant, cement distribution terminal in Vancouver, Washington, a rock quarry in Twin Rivers, Washington, and related assets. The FTC alleged that a provision of the sales agreement between LaFarge and Holnam would have imposed a penalty on LaFarge if it produced quantities of cement in excess of 85 percent of the Holnam plant's capacity. According to the FTC, this provision would encourage LaFarge to restrict the output of cement at the Seattle plant to avoid the production penalty and would prevent an increase in supply and a reduction in price for cement in the Puget Sound area. To restore competition, LaFarge and Holnam agreed to drop the production penalty clause.

The complaint, issued with the consent order, alleged that as a result of Merck's 1993 acquisition of Medco, the nation's largest benefits manager, Merck's drugs received favorable treatment through Medco's drug-list formulary made available to medical professionals who prescribe and dispense prescriptions to health plan beneficiaries. The consent order requires Medco, among other things, to maintain an "open formulary" to include drugs approved by an independent Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, staffed by physicians and pharmacologists who have no financial interest in Merck.

The consent order requires Shell Oil and its Tejas Energy, LLC, subsidiary, to divest parts of the ANR pipeline system in Oklahoma and Texas to settle charges that its acquisition of gas gathering assets of The Coastal Corporation would lead to anticompetitive increases in gas gathering rates and an overall reduction in gas drilling and production in the two states.

A final consent order settles allegations stemming from Medtronic's proposed acquisition of Physio-Control International Corporation's automatic external defibrillator business. According to the complaint, Medtronic, through its controlling interest in SurVivaLink Corporation, a direct competitor of Physio-Control, would control both companies as a result of the acquisition and thereby increase the likelihood of coordinated interaction which could result in increased prices and reduce innovation in the market. The consent order requires Medtronic to become a passive investor in SurVivaLink and reduce many of its present and future business contacts with the firm.