Announced Actions for March 4, 1997

Commission action regarding applications for approval: Following a public comment period, the Commission has ruled on an application for approval of a transaction from the following:

• The FTC has approved the application of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, a French firm, to divest the hot surface igniters business of The Carborundum Company to Graphite Sales, Inc., of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The divestiture includes a plant in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and other assets and intellectual property. Divestiture of this business was required under a June 1996 consent order that Saint-Gobain signed to settle FTC charges that the firm’s acquisition of Carborundum violated antitrust laws by substantially reducing competition in three markets involving products used in industrial furnaces and home appliances. This divestiture is designed to restore competition in the hot surface igniters market. (See Feb. 26, 1996 news release for more details about the June 1996 consent order; Docket No. C-3673; Commission vote to approve the divestiture was 5-0.) Staff contact is Daniel Ducore, 202-326-2526.

Consent agreements given final approval: Following a public comment period, the Commis sion has made final a consent agreement with the following entities. The Commission action makes the consent order binding on the respondents.

• The consent agreement with J.C. Penney Company, of Plano, Texas; and Thrift Drug, Inc., its wholly-owned, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based subsidiary, settles charges that Penney’s plan to acquire both Eckerd Corporation, as well as 190 Rite Aid drug stores in North and South Carolina, violated federal antitrust laws by substantially reducing drug store competition in Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham and Greensboro, North Carolina, and also in Charleston, South Carolina. The consent order requires Penney and Thrift to divest by March 21, 1997: 14 Thrift drug stores in Charlotte; 20 Thrift stores in Raleigh-Durham; all 110 Rite Aid drug stores in North Carolina; and all 17 Rite Aid drug stores in Charleston. The order also bars Penney from even acquiring the 127 Rite Aid stores in North Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina, until it has an agreement in place, approved by the Commission, to divest these stores. (See Dec. 6, 1996 news release for more details about this case; Docket Nos. Eckerd--C-3721, Rite Aid--C-3722; Commission vote on Feb. 28 to issue the consent order as final and binding was 5-0.) Staff contact is George S. Cary, 202-326-3741.

Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC’s web site at www.ftc.gov and also from its Public Reference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580; 202-326-2222; TTY for the hearing impaired 1-866-653-4261. To find out the latest news as it is announced, call the FTC NewsPhone recording at 202-326-2710.