NEW YORK - The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to Dime Bancorp and North Fork Bancorp asking the companies to provide additional information so it can study the antitrust implications of North Fork's hostile takeover of Dime.
Dime disclosed in a filing late Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had been subpoenaed. North Fork chairman John Adam Kanas confirmed in an interview that his company had also received one. FleetBoston Financial Corp. is also believed to have received a subpoena, but it would not confirm.
North Fork, of Melville, N.Y., launched its $1.9 billion bid for Dime in March with the backing of FleetBoston, which pledged $250 million in financing in return for the chance to buy deposits and branches from a combined North Fork-Dime.
In a lawsuit filed in March, Dime claimed that North Fork and Fleet were conspiring to choke off competition in the New York metropolitan market.
The Justice Department has requested information about the positioning that Fleet, Dime, and North Fork have in New Haven county in Connecticut and in Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York.
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