The Justice Department blocks the LTV-Republic merger
The Reagan Administration has approved some of the biggest corporate mergers in history: Du Pont and Conoco, U.S. Steel and Marathon Oil and, tentatively, Texaco and Getty. Last week, in a stunning reversal, it blocked the planned marriage of LTV and Republic Steel. Proposed in September, the deal would have created the second-largest steel company in America, behind U.S. Steel. Assistant Attorney General J. Paul McGrath, named two months ago to succeed William Baxter as the Justice Department's antitrust chief, said the merger would violate the Clayton...