BAT Agrees to Join in Industry Settlement

BAT Industries backed off its opposition to a landmark settlement agreement between U.S. cigarette companies and their opponents, clearing one of the final obstacles to reaching a preliminary agreement, according to a senior tobacco industry executive who didn’t want to be identified. In a seven-hour meeting at the New York headquarters of Philip Morris Cos., BAT Chief Executive Martin Broughton agreed to support the proposed multibillion-dollar settlement, the source said. The British company had previously balked at giving the U.S. government broad power to regulate nicotine in cigarettes. The about-face gives the companies a unified front in their negotiations with 35 state attorneys general who are representing smokers.