Britain: New Giant

Britain's ruling Labor Party encourages corporate mergers on the theory that the country needs bigger and more efficient companies to compete in world markets. Taking the government at its word, Britain's General Electric Co. Ltd. (no kin to American G.E.), and English Electric Co., which stand one-two in the country's electrical field, obligingly prepared last week to join forces in a corporate merger that would be the biggest in British history.

Although the move had the government's blessing, the merger between British G.E. and English Electric into Britain's sixth largest company (combined sales: $2.2 billion) raised fears of monopoly both...

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