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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993                   TAG: 9311290181
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

EDEN, N.C. - Fieldcrest Cannon Inc. completed a $137.6 million buyout of its controlling shareholder Friday.

"For the first time in many years, all Fieldcrest stockholders now have equal say, proportionate to their ownership, over the future of Fieldcrest," said James M. Fitzgibbons, chairman and chief executive officer of Fieldcrest Cannon.

Fieldcrest, Eden-based towel maker with a mill in Henry County, bought more than 90 percent of Amoskeag's total outstanding shares at $40 a share in the $137.6 million deal.

In May, Springs Industries Inc. offered $452 million for Fieldcrest Cannon and Amoskeag. Fieldcrest Cannon rejected that offer and subsequent offers that were part of a secret bidding process.

The bidding ended in August when Fieldcrest Cannon announced it would buy Amoskeag, a deal that gives most of its stockholders nothing. Those stockholders would have received $27.50 a share from Springs, which is based in Fort Mill, S.C. - Associated Press

Pier 1 pull toy listed as potential hazard

WASHINGTON - Pier 1 Imports has instructed retailers to alter the company's new line of Christmas pull toys after a consumer group branded the toys potentially hazardous for children.

U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a consumer group, included three Pier 1 pull toys on its annual list of potentially dangerous toys, released this week. The list cited a possible choking hazard from a wooden bead at the end of the pull cord.

Pier 1 executive John Baker, who ordered the alteration, said the company has no plans to notify consumers. He said Pier 1 has submitted 12 of the toys to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission for additional tests.

Baker said the company has sold only about 200 of the pull toys, which feature a wooden bear, an elephant or a toy soldier on wheels. The toys, made in Sri Lanka, sell for about $8. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram