Computer Automation Inc., the troubled Irvine computer...

Computer Automation Inc., the troubled Irvine computer maker, Wednesday announced a tentative agreement to sell its commercial systems division to a Santa Ana businessman. Terms of the deal, scheduled to become final by Sept. 30, were not disclosed.

The proposed sale to W. Norris Agee, the chairman of Trendata Corp. in Costa Mesa, comes just two months after Computer Automation hired a team of investment bankers to explore the remaining business opportunities for the ailing, money-losing company.

“We’ve been unprofitable and we can’t continue that way or we’ll go out of business,” MacKenzie Paige, vice president and chief financial officer said in June. Over the last three years, the company has lost more than $12 million.

The commercial systems division, which employs about 30% of the company’s 731 employees, manufactures desk top computers and larger data processing systems.

In a prepared statement, George Pratt, Computer Automation’s chairman and chief executive, said the company’s “current inability to dedicate adequate resources to the division made the decision to sell necessary, but not easy.” He said the company did not expect to record a loss from the sale.

Robert Parker, president of 19-year-old Trendata, said he did not expect Agee to merge his latest acquisition into Trendata, which manufactures computer accessories. Parker, who said he is involved in operating most of Agee’s businesses, said the new owner’s plans call for pushing the Computer Automation division to achieve its full potential.