July 13, 1981

The owners' bargaining team, reacting to instructions to move faster in an attempt to settle the baseball strike, may be approaching its bargaining limit. If so, the end of the strike, which became 31 days old yesterday, could be far in the future. Two owners and a baseball lawyer told yesterday of some developments at last Thursday's meeting here of the club owners, particularly how they had emerged united and supportive of Ray Grebey, their chief negotiator, and the bargaining team. The meeting generated tremendous optimism; many owners went home believing that the strike would be settled by next Thursday and that the season would resume by the following Thursday. However, much, if not most, of that optimism was diluted by the collapse of the talks Saturday.

The jarring effect on the market after the resignation of a Prime Computer Inc. top executive was powerful, even for the surprise departure of someone widely regarded as an executive thoroughbred. The shares of Prime, one of Wall Street's darlings of 1981, plunged more than 10 points last week amid a shower of sell orders over three days. Nearly $300 million, or 27 percent of its total, was pared from the company's market value. Although the slide was halted in another flurry of trading last Friday, many dismayed Prime watchers were wondering if the fastgrowing maker of high-powered minicomputers can sustain its storybook growth without Kenneth G. Fisher at the helm.

A multibillion-dollar takeover battle intensified yesterday as Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, the liquor company, moved to break up an agreement for the purchase of Conoco Inc., the nation's ninth-largest oil company, by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. In a move anticipated on Wall Street, Seagram offered to pay stockholders $85 a share for a 51 percent interest in Conoco - or nearly $3.8 billion in cash. Less than a week ago, in a transaction that would have been the largest corporate merger in American history, Du Pont reached an agreement to buy all of Conoco's stock for $7.3 billion. However, only $3.1 billion of that amount would be in cash, with the balance in the chemical company's stock. Viewed by Many as Better Although Seagram, the United States subsidiary of the Seagram Company of Canada, is offering $85 a share, compared with Du Pont's $87.50, the liquor company's newest offer will be viewed by many as better. With Conoco shares now quoted at only $73.38 on the New York Stock Exchange, shareholders stand to make a handsome profit if their shares are accepted. Because Seagram will pay cash for more shares than Du Pont, many will perceive that they stand a better chance with Seagram.

The Household Finance Corporation announced on Friday that it intended to acquire a bank in California by taking advantage of a loophole in Federal law. Through the bank, Valley National of Salinas, the finance company could establish a deposit-taking banking operation throughout the state. The only restriction would be that the bank could not grant business loans. By not making commercial loans, the bank no longer would be considered to be a ''bank'' by the Federal Reserve, and, therefore, Household would be allowed to acquire it. But, through its other subsidiaries, Household could continue to extend loans to businesses.

The talks went on for weeks, over the phone, on the telex and across bargaining tables in New York, Lagos, London and Tripoli. There was fist-thumping and threat-making, and bluffing that would have put a poker champion to shame. At least one man lost his job. More than a few established business partnerships broke up in frustration. Such were the negotiations between the international oil companies and the oil-producing countries over prices for the third quarter of 1981. Whatever the outcome, the participants agree, the past few weeks have been incredibly difficult and complex. ''It is a time of changing relationships between the oil companies and the producing countries,'' said the oil buyer for one of the biggest oil conglomerates. ''The negotiations between us have really been tough. It is going to be very interesting to see what new relationships develop.''