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The Federal Trade Commission has appointed a trustee to divest retail pharmacy assets located in Revco drug stores in Marion and Covington, Virginia, because the deadline for Revco D.S., Inc. to accomplish the divestitures has passed. The divestitures are required under a 1994 consent order Revco signed to settle FTC charges that its acquisition of the Hook-SupeRx drug-store chain could raise prices and reduce service for prescription drugs sold in retail stores in these two towns, as well as in Radford, Virginia. (Revco divested two Radford drug stores in compliance with the order in March 1995.) The consent order is designed to restore competition, and thereby keep consumer prices and service competitive, in the three towns. The trustee appointed by the Commission to complete the Marion and Covington divestitures is James F. Duffy, a drug store broker who, as a pharmacist, owned and operated a drug store for 26 years in Tiverton, Rhode Island.

Revco is based in Twinsburg, Ohio.

The FTC's challenge of the Revco/Hook-SupeRx merger was one of three challenges to retail drug-store chain mergers in 1994. The FTC also negotiated settlements requiring divestitures to restore competition in connection with Rite Aid Corporation's acquisition of LaVerdiere's, and the acquisition of the PayLess drug store chain by TCH Corporation (which owns the Thrifty and Bi-Mart chains). The FTC also has appointed a trustee to complete the divestitures required under the Rite Aid consent order after Rite Aid failed to complete them within the 12-month period to which Rite Aid had agreed. (See news release also issued today.)

The Commission vote to appoint a trustee in the Revco matter was 5-0.

Copies of the 1994 consent order with Revco and other documents referenced above are available from the FTC's 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. FTC news releases and other materials also are available on the Internet at the FTC's World Wide Web site at: http://www.ftc.gov

(FTC Docket No. C-3540)

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