Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 7, 1993                   TAG: 9305070605
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

IN BUSINESS

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has rejected a government bid to block Gillette Co. from buying Parker Pen Holdings Inc.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth denied a Justice Department request for a preliminary injunction to bar the acquisition. Government lawyers said the takeover would be anti-competitive, giving the Boston-based Gillette company 40 percent of the nearly $50 million annual U.S. market for premium fountain pens.

Gillette, which makes Waterman pens, controls about 21 percent of the premium fountain pen market, and Parker Pen of Newhaven, England, about 19 percent. Premium pens are classified by the government as those costing between $50 and $400.

Gillette now can proceed with its offering of $446.17 million for Parker. - Associated Press