FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1997                            (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888



 GERMAN AND BRAZILIAN PISTON COS. PAY RECORD $5.6 MILLION PENALTY
   FOR VIOLATING ANTITRUST PREMERGER NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
                                 

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A German and a Brazilian piston
manufacturer will pay civil penalties totaling more than $5.6
million to settle charges that they violated antitrust premerger
reporting requirements, said the Department of Justice.  The
total penalty amount is the largest ever obtained for this type
of violation, eclipsing the $3.1 million paid by Sara Lee
Corporation in 1996.

     The Department's Antitrust Division today, at the request of
the Federal Trade Commission, filed a civil suit against Mahle
GmbH, a German piston manufacturer, and Metal Leve S.A., a
Brazilian competitor.  The complaint alleged that Mahle acquired
more than 50 percent of the voting securities of Metal Leve,
which had more than $15 million of assets in the U.S., for
approximately $40 million, in 1996.  Each company will pay a
civil penalty of about $2.8 million for not reporting the
acquisition to federal antitrust authorities before consummating
the deal.

     The suit and a proposed settlement, which must be approved
by the court, were filed in U.S. District Court in Washington,
D.C.

     The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act of 1976 imposes notification and
waiting period requirements on individuals and companies over a
certain size before they consummate acquisitions of stock or
assets over a certain value or ownership percentage.  The act
permits a federal court, upon the Justice Department's request,
to assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each day a party
is in violation through November 19, 1996, and $11,000 for each
day thereafter.

     A description of the case is contained in the attached 
press release from the Federal Trade Commission.

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