WMD Micro Distributors Inc., an Irvine-based distributor...

WMD Micro Distributors Inc., an Irvine-based distributor of computer hardware, said Wednesday it cancelled previously announced plans to acquire Innovative Computer Marketing Inc., a Greenville, So. Carolina, distributor of personal computer peripherals.

However, the company said it is already in the initial stages of merger negotiations with another southeast distributor, which officials declined to identify. The new acquisition talks should be concluded by the end of the month, the company said.

WMD said that its offer to acquire Innovative Computer Marketing for an undisclosed amount of stock, notes and cash payable over three years had been rejected by ICM’s management in favor of a competing offer from a group of ICM employees and an undisclosed entity to buy the company directly from ICM president and majority owner Michael Ray.

WMD vice president Don Ackerman said that WMD declined to make a counter-offer. “It is better for WMD and ICM to pursue their own business futures,” he said in a prepared statement.

Ackerman emphasized, however, that “WMD will continue its fast-paced growth rate, which calls for an aggressive acquisition of strong, regional distributors.”