CompuSave Raises $612,000 in Stock Sale

CompuSave Corp., plagued by continuing losses and bedeviled by a smear campaign, said Wednesday that it has completed the sale of about 408,000 unregistered and restricted shares of its common stock to private investors, raising about $612,000 of much-needed cash.

But, even if the Irvine-based developer of electronic retailing systems can secure an additional $900,000 that the company said it needs, CompuSave’s future continues to be clouded by anonymous letters that have been sent to the investment and business community and contain what the company said are “disparaging and inaccurate comments concerning CompuSave and its officers.”

In a statement issued late Wednesday, CompuSave said that the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun an “informal inquiry” into the company and that the National Assn. of Securities Dealers has advised CompuSave that it also has started “a review of the activity in the markets for CompuSave’s common and preferred stock.”

CompuSave said that, soon after the letters were received several weeks ago, its banker withdrew a commitment for a $1-million line of credit, and CompuSave withdrew its planned stock and debt securities offering. Also, some vendors who received the letters have placed CompuSave on a cash-on-delivery basis, the company said.

Larry Mayle, CompuSave’s chairman, refused to elaborate on the prepared statement.

In order to reduce cash requirements, CompuSave said, it has reduced the number of employees to 75 on Nov. 19 from about 128 on Oct. 31 and has taken other steps to reduce overhead.

The company said that, if acceptable financing is not obtained, CompuSave will be “required to reduce overhead even further or consider alternatives, including, without limitation, changing the nature of the business to one that requires substantially less overhead or seeking purchasers for all or part of its business.”

Meanwhile, CompuSave said it signed a three-year agreement with MarketDisc Corp. under which CompuSave will supply 64 of its interactive videodisc computer systems to the Builders Emporium chain of home improvement centers. CompuSave’s systems will be utilized to provide in-store, do-it-yourself instructional video presentations.