Favorite Place for Acquisitions

Companies headquartered in California continued to be most popular acquisition targets in the nation in 1984, according to W. T. Grimm & Co.

It was the third straight year that California has led the annual survey, according to Grimm, a well-known Chicago consulting firm that specializes in mergers and acquisitions.

Grimm’s latest results show that 263 California-based firms were sold last year, more than double the 130 sold in 1982 and 26% higher than the 208 sold in 1983.

New York was a distant second on the list with 120 companies sold in 1984, while Texas close behind with 117. Texas ranked second in 1982 and 1983, while New York was third in both years.

Nineteen of the California purchases in 1984 were valued at $100 million or more. Leading the list was Texaco’s purchase of Getty Oil for $10.1 billion, followed by the Nestle purchase of Carnation Co. for $2.86 billion, the survey said. Both Getty and Carnation have headquarters in Los Angeles.

Others major transactions included:

IBM’s purchase of 77% of Rolm Corp., Santa Clara, for $1.25 billion.

Texas Eastern’s acquisition of Petrolane Inc., Long Beach, for $1.04 billion.

Management’s purchase of Denny’s Inc., La Mirada, for $664 million.

The $547-million buy-out of 71% of Pasadena-based Parsons Corp. by an employee stock ownership plan.