Informatics Resumes Talks With Sterling : Dallas Firm May Sweeten Bid for Local Company

Informatics General said Tuesday that it has resumed merger talks with Sterling Software, the suitor from Dallas that has doggedly pursued a takeover of the much larger Woodland Hills software company.

Sterling also said it has dropped a lawsuit brought against Informatics in U.S. District Court in Dallas, in which it sought to delay Informatics’ shareholder meeting, scheduled for Thursday in Los Angeles.

The resumption of talks and the end of the suit, events Informatics said were not linked, marked an apparent easing of tension between two companies that are locked in a bitter proxy fight for control of Informatics. The company was founded by Walter F. Bauer, its chairman, in 1962.

Sweeter Takeover Bid

The developments also hinted at a sweeter takeover bid for Informatics, whose strong sales, lackluster earnings and cash-rich balance sheet have made it a prime takeover target, analysts say.

Informatics has already rejected bids of $25 and $26 a share from Sterling, even though the former’s stock was trading at about $17, roughly its per-share book value, when Sterling started buying on March 13.

Sterling has since offered to discuss a higher bid for the stock, which closed unchanged at $26 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Some takeover specialists and Wall Street analysts have said they expect a final sale at about $28 for the approximately 5 million shares outstanding.

“Hopefully, we can get a friendly situation to get good value for shareholders,” said John J. Girton, who follows Informatics for Burr, Wilson & Co., a San Francisco brokerage. He said he is surprised at the price Informatics appears likely to bring.

“The $25 seemed more than fair to me,” he said. “Twenty-six is even better. If we can get $28 for it, that’s fantastic. The company hadn’t been doing wonderfully.”

Informatics earned $4.7 million, or 82 cents a share, on sales of $191.2 million last year, compared to $8.5 million, or $1.67 per share, on sales of $152.1 million in 1983. It sells software to business and government, as well as some complete computer systems that include hardware.

Daniel L. McGurk, the Informatics board member who heads its special committee seeking buyers, said Tuesday that the board is committed to selling the company for the right offer.

“That could be an offer from Sterling or someone else,” he said in a statement.

Sterling Chairman Samuel E. Wyly, whose company already holds 9.3% of Informatics, was not immediately available for comment.