| **Concurring Statement of Commissioner    Orson Swindle**

**in Nestle S.A./Ralston Purina Co.,    Docket No. C-4028**

The Commission has issued a final order to resolve complaint    allegations that Nestle S.A.'s ("Nestle") acquisition of Ralston Purina Co.    ("Ralston") may substantially lessen competition in the market for the sale of    dry cat food in the United States. To remedy these competitive concerns, Ralston has    agreed to divest its Meow Mix and Alley Cat brands to J.W. Childs Equity Partners II, L.P.    ("J.W. Childs"), an investment firm that owns the Hartz line of pet care    products. Because the divestiture to J.W. Childs is likely to replace the competition in    the market for dry cat food that otherwise would have been lost due to the Nestle/Ralston    merger,

I have voted to issue the final order.

One provision in the final order is unusual and may raise    concerns. Paragraph VI requires J.W. Childs, for a period of five years, to obtain    Commission approval before selling all or substantially all of the assets acquired in the    divestiture. The Analysis to Aid Public Comment explained that the Commission does not    routinely impose such prior approval requirements but that it is appropriate to do so    "where the proposed acquirer's current plans indicate that there is a high    probability that the assets will be resold, possibly within two-five years." The    purpose of the prior approval requirement is to make certain that whoever buys the resold    assets from J.W. Childs would be a sufficient competitor to remedy the lessening of    competition from the Nestle/Ralston transaction alleged in the complaint. See Paragraph    VI.F. of the Order.

I agree that J.W. Childs warranted a hard look as a    prospective buyer because it might resell the divested assets in the near future. It is    possible that this close scrutiny would go for naught if J.W. Childs were promptly to    resell the assets to a less qualified buyer. On the other hand, this risk is always    present -- even had the assets remained in Ralston's hands. I think that our approval of    J.W. Childs as the buyer means that we have determined that, in spite of any possible    resale plans, the company will develop and employ the assets as vigorously as Ralston    would have done. Once we have made this determination, I question the need for imposing a    prior approval requirement on J.W. Childs that we would not have imposed on a buyer that    was less likely to resell the assets.

I also think that the prior approval requirement may require    the Commission to make a difficult determination. For example, assume that J.W. Childs    seeks prior approval to resell

the assets four years after the Nestle/Ralston merger was    consummated. The Commission presumably will have to determine whether the prospective    buyer of the resold assets will compete as effectively as Ralston would have competed in    the absence of the Nestle/Ralston merger. Given the passage of four years since the merger    and the dynamic nature of markets, it may be difficult for the Commission to make this    determination with a high degree of confidence.UBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML//EN"> |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|