Announced Actions for February 7, 1997

The Federal Trade Commission today announced the following action.

Applications for approval of transactions: The FTC has received an application for approval of a transaction from the following. The FTC is seeking public comments on the application for 30 days, until March 10.

Wesley-Jessen Corporation, of Des Plaines, Illinois, has applied for FTC approval to divest the opaque lens business of Pilkington Barnes Hind International, Inc., which Wesley-Jessen acquired in its merger with Pilkington, to The Cooper Companies, Inc., of Irvine and Pleasanton, California. Cooper’s wholly-owned subsidiary, CooperVision, Inc., currently markets a wide range of contact lenses, but not opaque lenses. Divestiture of the Pilkington business is required by a January 1997 consent order settling charges that the merger of Wesley-Jessen and Pilkington would result in a near monopoly in the opaque contact lens market. The divestiture is designed to restore competition. (See Sept. 30, 1996 news release for more details regarding this case; Docket No. C-3700).

Comments on the 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