Announced Actions for April 30, 1996

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

Applications for prior approval of transactions: The FTC has received an application for prior approval of a divestiture from the following. The application will be subject to public comment for 30 days, until May 30.

• Litton Industries, Inc., of Lexington, Massachusetts, has asked the FTC to approve its plan to divest a multi-million dollar systems engineering and technical assistance contract for the Navy’s Aegis destroyer program to Vitro Corporation, a subsidiary of Tracor, Inc. based in Rockville, Maryland. The divestiture is required by a proposed consent order Litton signed to settle FTC charges that the firm’s acquisition of PRC, Inc. would violate antitrust laws. The FTC said in announcing the proposed order that Litton was one of two contractors that manufacture Aegis destroyers for the Navy, and PRC was the sole systems engineering and technical assistance contractor for the program. To restore competition that allegedly would have been injured by the acquisition, the FTC consent order would require Litton to divest the PRC contract within 90 days of the Commission’s final approval of the order (see Feb. 15, 1996 news release regarding the proposed consent order; FTC File No. 961 0022).

Commission action regarding petitions to reopen and modify FTC orders: Following a public comment period, the FTC has ruled on the following petition:

• The FTC has granted the petition of Hoechst AG, a German company, and its U.S. subsidiaries, Hoechst Corp. and Hoechst Celanese Corp., both of Bridgewater, New Jersey, so as to end the firms’ obligation to obtain FTC approval before acquiring any acetal production facilities anywhere in the world. (Acetal is an engineering thermoplastic polymer used as a replacement for metal in small mechanical parts.) The prior approval requirement had been included in a 1991 consent order settling charges that the acquisition of Celanese Corp. by Hoechst AG and Hoechst Corp. violated federal antitrust laws by substantially reducing competition in the manufacture and sale of acetal in world markets (see Dec. 6, 1991 news release regarding the consent order; Docket No. D09216; Commission vote 5-0 on April 26, 1996).

Comments on the Litton application 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