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buyout3.txt
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1997-11-07
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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.
Transmitted: 95-04-21 04:14:29 EDT
Copyright 1995 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News