Valley Business : Tandon Makes $27-Million Sale
Tandon Corp., buffeted by slumping sales in the computer industry, announced an agreement to sell up to $27 million worth of its hard-disk products to GreatWest Technology, which makes add-on computer memory devices for sale through Computerland stores.
The Tandon hard-disk--or Winchester--products bought by GreatWest include drives that can store 10, 20, 30 and 40 megabytes of data. Deliveries already have begun and are scheduled to continue through the third quarter of 1986, Tandon said.
“This agreement, which covers a mixture of our newer Winchester products, not only signals their market acceptance, but also illustrates our marketing strategy to broaden our traditional account base,” said Tandon’s president, Sirjang Lal Tandon.
GreatWest supplies add-on memory devices under the trade name of SYSDYNE! exclusively to Computerland. Tandon is a leading manufacturer of disk drives for the microcomputer industry.
A Tandon spokesman said the contract should help reverse losses at the company, but the precise financial impact could not be determined. For the fiscal year ended Sept. 28, Tandon sales topped $400 million.
Pertron Controls Moves to Larger Site in Chatsworth
Pertron Controls of Canoga Park, a maker of programmable welding controls, has moved to bigger quarters in Chatsworth.
The company said it moved to a new two-building, 50,000-square-foot complex on Plummer Street that represents a 30% increase in manufacturing capability. Its corporate offices also were relocated. Pertron’s research and development operation doubled its space to 5,000 square feet.
Pertron, founded in 1975, has made Inc. magazine’s 500 list of fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies for the last three years.
Newhall Land & Farming in $10-Million Land Sale
The Newhall Land & Farming Co. said it is selling two parcels of land for a total of about $10 million. Both escrows are expected to close in July.
The company entered escrow on a 43-acre portion of the Cowell Ranch in Northern California for $5.5 million. The City of Concord has approved plans for condominiums on the parcel, which is being purchased by a developer. Newhall Land & Farming is keeping more than 800 acres.
The second parcel in escrow totals 38 acres in the Hasley Canyon area of the Newhall Ranch just north of Valencia and west of Interstate 5. The parcel is being purchased by a developer and can accommodate 195 residential units.
Newhall Land & Farming, a California limited partnership, is one of the state’s biggest landholders, with operations in real estate and agriculture.
EMM Shareholders Back Titan Merger, New Name
Electronic Memories & Magnetics Corp. of Encino said its shareholders approved its agreement to merge with Titan Systems International, and its plan to take rename itself The Titan Corp. effective May 30.
Under the agreement, about 4.2 million shares of EMM’s stock would be issued to Titan’s shareholders, who mostly work for the company; its 350 employees own 98% of the stock. The new company will be headed by Titan’s founder, Gene W. Ray, who will become president and chief executive of Titan Systems. The company’s headquarters will stay in Encino.
The deal should be worth about $36 million at the current stock price.
Both companies manufacture computer products for classified military use, but lately Titan has fared better than EMM, which has had declining earnings over the past four years. For 1984, EMM had net income of just $538,000 on revenue of $87.6 million, contrasted with net income of $3.3 million on sales of $79 million in 1983.
Titan started four years ago in a home near Washington, D.C., with $120,000 in capital. For the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 1984, Titan earned $1.2 million on sales of $24.3 million, more than twice its figures for the preceding year.
EMM stock will continue to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the new symbol, TTN.
