Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 23, 1990                   TAG: 9006230193
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

PHILLIP MORRIS BUYS SUCHARD

The deal could also produce an insider trading investigation, Swiss officials said.

The combined company, linking Suchard with Philip Morris' Kraft General Foods International unit, would have annual revenues of $6.7 billion and a broad reach across the growing European consumer market. Only Nestle SA and Unilever NV would be larger.

Among Suchard's best-known brands are Tobler, Milka, Cote d'Or and Suchard chocolates, the triangle-boxed Toblerone chocolate-nougat confection and Night and Day coffee. Suchard is the world's largest candy maker behind Mars Inc. and Nestle SA.

Philip Morris, with 157,000 employees worldwide, makes Maxwell House coffee, Miller beer, Jello-O, Oscar Mayer processed meats and Kraft cheeses, mayonnaise and salad dressings, and has 7.5 percent of the world cigarette market.

The combination would give Philip Morris a foothold in France and West Germany, where its sales are relatively weak and Suchard makes an estimated 80 percent of its profits. On the NYSE, Philip Morris settled for a ] gain at 44 3/4 after trading as high as 46] on heavy volume.

- Associated Press