Wright Seeks to Slow Buyouts and Hostile Takeovers
House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.) said on Wednesday that he was seeking governmental ways of slowing the pace of leveraged buyouts and hostile corporate takeovers, the New York Times reported.
He said the buyouts and takeovers were having an adverse “psychological and economic” effect on the nation, the newspaper reported in its Thursday edition.
Wright said he had discussed possible legislation on the matter in a telephone call on Wednesday with Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which deals with securities matters.
Wright made his remarks at a luncheon with a small group of selected reporters.
He said changes in the tax code could be made to discourage leveraged buyouts and the Securities and Exchange Commission could also move against them.
Wright, who said “antitrust laws have been blithely and dangerously ignored” in the Reagan Administration, said the Justice Department might be persuaded to be more rigorous in antitrust enforcement, but he was not very hopeful.
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