|
SUMMARY OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
FOR TUESDAY, FEB. 16, 1993 THROUGH FRIDAY, FEB. 19, 1993
| 2/23/93 |
U.S.
v. Urethane Applications, Inc. and Donald Freeman
Criminal No.: 93-00097 (E.D. Pa.)
One-count information
was filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
charging Urethane Applications, Inc. of North Salem, New York,
and its president and principal shareholder, Donald Freeman, with
rigging bids, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, for
certain polyurethane roofing contracts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey
and New York.
|
| 2/23/93 |
U.S.
v. Texas Commerce Bancshares, Inc. and Texas Commerce Bank-Beaumont.
N.A.
Civil No.: 3-93CVO368-D (N.D. Tex.)
A civil complaint was
filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas,
challenging the proposed acquisition of New First City Bank-Beaumont
N.A. by Texas Commerce Bank-Beaumont N.A., a subsidiary of Texas
Commerce Bancshares Inc. (TCB) of Houston, Texas, which is a subsidiary
of Chemical Banking Corp., New York City. At the same time, a
proposed consent decree was filed which, if approved by the court,
will resolve the suit. New First City-Beaumont is one of the 20
bridge banks sold by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
last month. The complaint alleged that the proposed acquisition
would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act by substantially lessening
competition in business banking services,
including business transaction accounts and commercial operating
loans, particularly for medium-sized businesses with annual sales
of more than $5 million. The proposed consent decree provides
for TCB to divest at least two branches of the New First City
Bank in Beaumont and all assets and deposits of those branches,
except for First City's trust business and its indirect consumer
loans. The proposed decree also would require TCB to divest all
New First City commercial loans of $500,000 or more, and the deposits
of those loan customers. TCB is the second largest commercial
bank in Beaumont, and operates approximately 110 offices through
16 separate national or state banks in Texas, which among them
hold more than $17 billion in assets and more than $13 billion
in deposits. New First City Bank-Beaumont is the largest bank
in Beaumont. Between them, TCB and New First City hold approximately
30 percent of commercial bank deposits in Beaumont. Although the
Department had also indicated its intention to challenge TCB's
acquisition of New First City Bank-El Paso N.A., TCB abandoned
its interest in that bank and assigned its winning bid to Sunwest
Bank of El Paso, a subsidiary of Boatmen's Bancshares of St. Louis,
Missouri. The Department had no objection to the purchase by Boatmen's.
On February 11, 1993, the Department challenged TCB's acquisition
of New First City Bank-Midland N.A. The Department and TCB have
filed a proposed consent decree resolving that dispute.
|
| 2/24/93 |
Justice
Consents to Proposed Termination of Plumbing and Heating Supplies
Judgment
The Department of Justice,
Antitrust Division, filed a stipulation in U.S. District Court
for the District of Nevada which, if approved by the court, would
terminate the Final Judgment in U.S. v. Reno Merchant Plumbing
and Heating Contractors. Inc.. et al., CV-N-868-ECR (D. Nev.
1952). Savage & Son, Inc., the only remaining defendant, filed
a motion to terminate the Final Judgment in this case. The Department,
in a stipulation also filed with the Court, has consented to termination
of the Final Judgment, but has reserved the right to withdraw
its consent for at least seventy (70) days after publication of
the Federal Register Notice. In its papers, the Department set
forth its reasons why termination would serve the public interest.
|
Copies of legal filings are
available from the Legal Procedure Unit, Antitrust Division, Room 3233,
Telephone No.: 514-2481.
93-052
|
