In a company statement, Personal care appliance maker The Gillette Company said that Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin lacks the authority under Massachusetts law to pursue his highly publicized inquiry of the company’s proposed merger with Procter & Gamble. The company said it will go to court to defend against a subpoena issued by the Secretary.
Gillette noted that it had voluntarily cooperated with Secretary Galvin, producing documents in response to four prior informal requests and had been trying to work with him to reach an agreement on appropriate terms to provide further documents. However, on Friday, April 15, the Secretary Galvin served a complaint seeking to compel Gillette to comply with a subpoena that exceeds his authority under Commonwealth law, Gillette said.
Gillette filed its own action seeking to quash the Secretary Glavin’s subpoena and also seeking a declaration by the court that the Secretary lacks jurisdiction over the merger. Gillette also said it will vigorously defend in court against the Secretary’s action.