United Technologies to Sell Westlake Unit

Telex, a Tulsa, Okla.-based maker of computer terminals, said it will buy Westlake Village-based United Technologies Communications for $30 million effective Jan. 1.

The California firm, a division of United Technologies of Hartford, Conn., makes telephone switching equipment. About 170 of its 1,200 employees are in Westlake Village, a United Technologies spokeswoman said. The rest are in Missouri, Florida and Texas, she said.

Ed Frank, Telex’s vice president of finance, said the company plans to keep the division headquarters in Westlake Village and expects to retain the employees there.

Frank said the division will have about $90 million in revenue this year and will lose money. Neither Frank nor United Technologies would say how much the division is expected to lose.

Frank said Telex officials believe that the telephone switching products the division makes complement Telex’s computer products and will help it develop voice and data transmission equipment.

Telex will pay United Technologies $9 million in cash and issue $21 million in notes payable in two years, the company said.