Announced Actions for August 6, 1996

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following actions. The FTC staff contact is Dan Ducore, 202-326-2526.

Petitions to reopen and modify FTC orders: The FTC has received a petition from the following entity. The Commission is seeking public comments on it for 30 days, until September 5.

• Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, and its U.S. subsidiary, Saint-Gobain/Norton Industrial Ceramics Corporation, of Worcester, Massachusetts, have petitioned the Commission to reopen and modify a consent order settling charges that its acquisition of the Carborundum Company violated antitrust laws. To restore competition in the market for products used in industrial furnaces and home appliances, the order required that Saint-Gobain divest Carborundum’s New York-based Monofrax fused cast refractories business, Puerto Rico-based hot surface igniter business and New Jersey- based silicon carbide refractories business and to hold them separate pending divestiture. The order specifies that boards of directors or management committees for each of the three businesses include “at least two Carborundum officers.” Saint-Gobain proposes modifying the order to allow knowledgable managers as well as officers of Carborundum to serve on the boards or management committees of the separately held businesses. The modification is necessary to achieve the intent and purpose of the order, the petition says. (see Feb. 26, 1996 news release regarding the consent order, Docket No.C3673).

Comments on the petition should be addressed to the FTC, Office of the Secretary, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Copies of the documents referenced above are available from the FTC’s Public Reference Branch, Room 130, at the same address; 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