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Time - Man of the Year
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Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
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1993-04-08
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THE WEEK, Page 20BUSINESSC'est Non!
The Pentagon nixes the sale of LTV to the French on secrecy
grounds
The decision hardly came as a surprise to executives of the
French defense contractor Thomson-CSF. For months the U.S.
defense community had been debating the wisdom of allowing the
company, 60% owned by the French government, to buy Dallas-based
LTV Corp.'s missile business. The issue was resolved by the
Treasury Department's interagency Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States, which responded on the eve of
the Fourth of July with a resounding "Non!" The panel voted to
recommend to President Bush this week a rejection of
Thomson-CSF's $300 million offer, based on widespread concern
that the sale would compromise LTV's considerable top-secret
high technology and threaten national security interests. The
action was taken on the same day that votes in both the House
Appropriations Committee and the Senate expressed disapproval
of the sale. Anticipating rejection, Thomson-CSF officials have
been scrambling for some time to put together a new offer --
with American partners, including Raytheon, Northrop or Loral.
One hitch is that Thomson-CSF placed a $20 million guarantee
with LTV for a completed sale by July 31. A new arrangement
would depend on the readiness of LTV's creditors to let this
deadline slide while a new U.S. review process took place.