Word: antitrusters
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...pounce. Said he: "We know Conoco and the business it operates. Conoco is a great company with fine resources and excellent management and personnel." Surprisingly, Warner's message shrugged off possible Government objections, saying, "Preliminary studies indicate that a Mobil-Conoco merger would not create difficulties under existing antitrust guidelines...
...Conoco shareholders will determine whose offer wins. Though Mobil's bid is now the highest, analysts still believe that Du Pont has the best chance because of the antitrust uncertainty surrounding the oil firm's offer. Says Garo Armen, of the E.F. Hutton investment firm: "Du Pont has the edge even though Mobil's offer is higher. Seagram is out of the running on price...
...merger binge has brought protests from several prominent Democrats on Capitol Hill, including Senators Edward Kennedy and Howard Metzenbaum. Says Metzenbaum: "If Mr. Reagan wants to eliminate the antitrust laws, he ought to come up here with legislation, not skulk around accomplishing the same thing through inaction." Republican Senator Strom Thurmond promised last week that his Judiciary Committee would hold hearings on the Conoco question...
...Justice Department, Antitrust Chief William Baxter seemed to backpedal a bit from the Administration's big-is-beautiful stance. Said he: "If the companies think we're generally soft on mergers, they're going to be in for a big surprise.'' Baxter stressed that while the Government was generally receptive to so-called vertical mergers of firms in different businesses, it would look skeptically upon horizontal combinations that might seriously reduce competition within an industry...
...many Washington antitrust experts, including some within the Justice Department, predict that the Government will ultimately approve a merger between Conoco and one of its suitors-even Mobil or Texaco. They point out that contrary to conventional wisdom, the oil industry is highly competitive. Under present antitrust guidelines, the Government considers an industry to be exceedingly concentrated if four or fewer firms control 75% of the market. In the oil business, the top four companies account for less than 20% of sales. By contrast, four auto firms control 70% of the market, while four steel companies have 44% of that...