A top executive of Batus Inc. testified...

A top executive of Batus Inc. testified that the company would “rearrange” the board of Farmers Group Inc. if Farmers persisted in disseminating anti-smoking literature and admitted that Batus has reserved the right to make changes in Farmers’ operations. After testimony that included repeated claims that no changes at Farmers were planned, Leonard Arentsen, executive vice president of Batus, the U.S. unit of British tobacco giant BAT Industries PLC, admitted that changes had indeed been contemplated. The weeklong hearing in Topeka before the Kansas Insurance Department is one of nine state regulatory proceedings across the nation to determine the suitability of the proposed $4.5-billion hostile takeover of Farmers by Batus and BAT.