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|More CBM News...
LOADS OF COMMODORE NEWS BELOW - VERY INTERESTING
READ ALL IF INTERESTED
[Internet headers etc. removed by Freak/NFA]
Headlines - Commodore UK withdrew because they did not have enough
money. UK hotline confirms this. They plan to work with the winner -
escom to re-establish Amiga
CEI and Dell had extra conditions so disqualified. It wasnt a cash
offer and had extra demands
Escom wins the commodore auction.
Escom plans building A4000's in Beijing and Commodore Power PC's in
Europe.
OK folks, it's not good, it's not bad, it just is. The latest from Mr.
Stets . . .
By Dan Stets, The Philadelphia Inquirer Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business
News
NEW YORK--Apr. 21--Escom AG, of Germany, picked up the assets of
Commodore International Ltd. for the bargain-basement price of $6.6
million at an auction here Thursday.
About a half-dozen companies interested in Commodore's assets appeared
at the auction, but only Escom and Dell Computer Co. submitted bids
backed up by the required $1 million security deposit.
Dell's bid was disqualified because the company attached some
unspecified conditions.
Escom president Manfred Schmitt said his company would resume
manufacturing Amiga and other popular Commodore products and start
making Apple- and IBM-compatible computers with the Commodore name for
the European market.
Schmitt said he would attempt to manufacture all of the traditional
Commodore products, even the advanced Amiga 4000, in China. He said he
planned to approach Motorola Co. about microprocessors for a new
Commodore PowerPC, which would be similar to the PowerMac manufactured
by Apple Computer Co. This new PowerPC would likely be built in Europe.
Escom has no plans to resume any of Commodore's American manufacturing
operations. Commodore had its North American headquarters in West
Chester, Pa.
However, before Escom can launch its new strategy, the purchase must be
approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York and the Supreme Court
of the Bahamas, where bankrupt Commodore was incorporated.
That approval is not yet certain since Commodore's creditors have not
yet agreed to the sale price, and both IBM and the trustee for
Commodore's assets in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the
Philippines are objecting to the sale.
Judge James L. Garrity Jr. has scheduled a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for Friday to consider the proposed sale to Escom as well as the
objections. Commodore's creditors are owed more than $100 million.
Previous estimates of Commodore's auction value were as high as $20
million, so the creditors are likely to have reservations about the
Escom sale price.
The auction, which was supposed to be the end of Commodore's bankruptcy
saga, was a bizarre affair. A standing-room-only crowd of 65 people
filled a conference room at the Midtown headquarters of Fullbright &
Jaworski, the American law firm representing Commodore's Bahamian
liquidators.
Almost half the group were lawyers. There were representatives of the
creditors' committee and of two creditors, Prudential Insurance and
Microsoft Co. Also on hand were representatives of a Chinese
electronic-game company, New Star, as well as another Chinese company,
Tietsin Trust & Investment Co., which is the parent firm of yet another
game company.
If its proposal is approved, Escom plans a joint venture with Tietsin to
manufacture the traditional Commodore products at a factory near
Beijing.
Also represented were several small American technology companies,
including Computer Connection, of Stockton, Calif., which submitted a
bid which was disqualified because the firm failed to include the
required $1 million deposit.
One attorney joked that never had he seen so many people show up for an
auction prepared to pay so little.
Schmitt said he was not surprised that Escom apparently had been able to
acquire Commodore for such a low price. If the other companies had been
willing to pay more, they would have signed a contract with the
liquidators months ago.
Another likely bidder, Creative Equipment International, of Miami,
apparently teamed up with Dell in its unsuccessful bid. The managers of
Commodore's United Kingdom team, who have been trying to buy Commodore's
assets for months, withdrew before the bidding began.
Dell was represented at the auctions by Dalton Kaye, the company's vice
president and treasurer, who said after the auction that his company had
not yet given up its attempt to buy Commodore.
Kaye complained that Dell had become aware of the auction only two weeks
ago and had not yet had time to evaluate either the bid documents or
Commodore's assets.
Dell, of Austin, Texas, makes personal computers for businesses and
individuals. In its latest fiscal year, which ended in January, sales
rose 21 percent to $3.5 billion, and the company had a profit of $149
million compared with a loss of $36 million the year before.
Neither the amount of the Dell bid nor of the Computer Connection bid
was made public. Kaye declined to specify what conditions Dell had
attached to its bid.
If Dell is really serious about pursuing Commodore, a shoot-out with
Escom could prove interesting. Dell had sales last year of $3.4
billion. Escom, which is the second largest computer company in
Germany, had sales of about $1.1 billion.
Escom will end up paying the Bahamian liquidators no more than $5
million for Commodore's assets. The company already has paid the German
bankruptcy trustee of Commodore's German subsidiary 2.2 million German
marks, the equivalent of about $1.6 million for the right to use the
Commodore logo in Germany.
Copyright 1995 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News
Commodore Latest ----------------
To: All 4/20/95
From Amazing Computing For The Commodore Amiga
According to our source at the Commodore Auction in New York today,
initial bidding was made by only two companies, ESCOM of Germany and
DELL Computer.
There were sixty attendees at the auction. Most of the attendees were
previous stockholders, creditors, and other interested parties.
No one else offered the required $1 million deposit, although one CA
dealer did express interest and attempted to bid but they were unable to
show an ability to pay the $1 million.
Although the Dell Computer bid offered more money, the Dell bid required
additional time to study the patents. This request was declined and
ESCOM's lower bid was accepted.
The ESCOM bid will be presented to the Bankruptcy court in New York on
4/21/95 but there is expected to be strong opposition. In any event,
the court presentation tomorrow should be the final act in this
continung saga.
Don Hicks Managing Editor Amazing Computing
Press return...
I just got off the phone with one of the interested parties in the
Commodore liquidation. The meeting in New York adjorned at 2:45 PM New
York time. Here is a summary of the information I received:
At the morning session the requirements for bidding were announced. Of
the seven entities who had expressed interest in bidding, only three
submitted sealed bids. The others were either unable or unwilling to
conform to the terms announced in the morning. CBM-UK was not there
bidding for the remains of Commodore, they were soliciting offers for an
equity buyout touting their continued profitability as an on-going
company. CEI was there but did not submit a bid, possibly to try to
enter the process tomorrow.
At the afternoon session the sealed bids were announced. The three
bidders were:
1) ESCOM, the German PC company who purchased the trademark from
CBM-Germany 2) Dell Computers, a large American PC clone maker 3) The
Computer Connection, an Amiga dealer from Stockton, California
All three bids were financially viable, the challangers meeting the
minimum of $7.3 mil. that was announced in the morning. This $7.3 was
figured at the $5 mil. that ESCOM had bid plus a minimum $1 mil.
increment, plus $1.3 mil. to be paid to ESCOM for the trademark they
already bought. All three bids were accompanied by the required $1 mil.
cashiers checks / wire transfer.
Two of the bids were disqualified for containing extra contitions that
were not in compliance with the terms announced in the morning session.
The nature of the extra conditions, and for the disqualifications, was
not disclosed.
The sale was awarded to ESCOM for their original $5 mil. bid. There
will be a hearing tomorrow to approve the sale, at which time there are
expected to be at least 3 challenges to the award: one by an unnamed
Dutch company, one by IBM alleging some kind of cross-licensing
agreement violation, and one from the creditors committee. There may
also be challenges from the unsucessful bidders, the liquidators, or
other interested parties.
A reporter from the Philidelphia Inquirer was there and there will be a
story in the Inquirer tomorrow.
---- David Coughran drc@koko.csustan.edu -- ---- David Coughran
drc@koko.csustan.edu
...!uunet!lll-winken!koko!drc
Press return...
It seems that CEI and C=UK had bids with conditions of some sort, and in
a (surprise?) move, the court denied all but purely cash bids.
Strong opposition is expected specifically from Dell, CEI, and C=UK
tomorrow (today, depending on what time zone you're in). Escom's bid
was the only pure-cash bid for everything.
------------------
Maxwell Daymon
mdaymon@rmii.com
------------------
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