Campbell and Heinz row ends

HJ Heinz and Campbell Soup said yesterday they were ending their fight over Mr

Daniel O'Neill, a former senior Campbell's executive hired by Heinz. Both sides claimed victory.

Under a settlement of the food giants' legal battle, which at times took a sharply personal tone, Mr O'Neill will be able to go to work at Heinz in September, Heinz said.

Until then, he is prohibited from having business contacts with Heinz and its employees.

The settlement requires O'Neill to maintain until August 1998 meticulous daily logs of all his business meetings and discussions, which would be reviewed for compliance by an outside auditor.

It also allows for an independent engineer to inspect Heinz manufacturing facilities to ensure no Campbell manufacturing secrets are taken.

Heinz and Campbell said the settlement ends the legal battle over Mr O'Neill, which began on January 6th when the company hired him away from Campbell.

Mr O'Neill, president of Camden, New Jersey based Campbell's US soup and prepared foods division, was tipped to be executive vice president of Heinz's pet food and Stur Kist tuna operations.

Heinz said the job would not compete with Campbell business, but the soup maker challenged the hiring in federal court.

The agreement also says Mr O'Neill will be free to assume "wider responsibilities" at Heinz on August 12th, 1998, but Heinz did not say what they might be.