Commission receives petition from Procter & Gamble Company to approve divestiture related to Gillette acquisition

Petition for approval of proposed divestiture: The Commission has received a petition from The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) requesting approval of a divestiture related to its recent acquisition of The Gillette Company (Gillette). Under the FTC order, which was issued to resolve competitive concerns raised by P&G's acquisition of Gillette, P&G is required to divest assets in several businesses that overlapped with Gillette. In this petition, P&G has requested Commission approval to divest its Antiperspirant/Deodorant (APDO) assets, as that term is defined in the order, to The Dial Corporation, a subsidiary of Henkel KGaA. These assets include the following brands: Right Guard, Soft & Dri, Dry Idea, Natrel Plus, and Balance.

The Commission is accepting public comments on the proposed divestiture for 30 days, until March 29, 2006, after which it will decide whether to approve it. Comments should be sent to FTC, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580. (FTC File No. 051-0115, Docket No. C-4151; the staff contact is Roberta Baruch, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2861; see press release dated September 30, 2005.)

Copies of the documents mentioned in this release are available from the FTC’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov and from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. Call toll-free: 1-877-FTC-HELP.