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News > Deals
Decision nears on Heinz
October 25, 2000: 4:57 p.m. ET

Heinz makes final argument in favor of Milnot baby food merger
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The baby food battle drew closer to a conclusion Wednesday, as H.J. Heinz Co. made what could be its last attempt to save its proposed merger with the maker of Beech-Nut.

Heinz's lawyers submitted their rebuttal to the Federal Trade Commission's request to keep the merger blocked as they appeal a ruling in favor of the deal.

The Federal Trade Commission believes Heinz's proposed merger with Milnot Holding Co., the No. 2 and No. 3 baby food companies, respectively, behind Gerber, will stifle competition.

Last week a Federal judge ruled the merger would in fact help the two companies compete more effectively with Novartis AG's Gerber, which controls 70 percent of the baby food market, and ended the FTC's temporary injunction on the $185 million deal.  

The FTC requested a stay pending appeal and on Monday filed its motion with an emergency appeals panel. The Commission has until Friday at 9 a.m. to respond to Heinz rebuttal evidence, after which the panel is expected to make its decision that day or perhaps Monday.

While the emergency appeals panel's ruling on the stay would not legally decide the case either way, both sides will be looking at this decision as a make-or-break moment.

In his ruling last week, Federal District Court Judge James Robertson wrote "it is undisputed a preliminary injunction would kill this merger."

Sal Stazzone, vice president at Milnot, said the decision to continue will be up to Heinz but also added shareholders invested in the deal can only stand so much uncertainty.

If the stay is denied, the FTC could face the task of pulling apart an already merged company.

An FTC spokesman said the Commission will announce its course of action after the decision comes. graphic

  RELATED STORIES

Stay on Heinz deal denied - Oct. 19, 2000

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.