Rattigan New Chief Executive at Commodore

Commodore International Ltd. promoted Thomas Rattigan to chief executive Monday, less than a year after he joined the struggling computer maker from Pepsico.

Rattigan, 48, Commodore’s president since November, will succeed Marshall Smith, 56, who closed plants and laid off employees in an effort to improve the bottom line.

Rattigan’s appointment is effective April 1. Smith will remain on Commodore’s board of directors and serve as a consultant to the company after Rattigan takes over, Irving Gould, the company’s chairman, said in a news release. The company lost $237 million last year as a result of an industry slump and write-offs from the cost-cutting measures.

Commodore, headquartered in West Chester, Pa., is pegging its hopes for a revival on sales of its Amiga and Commodore 128 microcomputers. The Amiga was introduced last year, but sales have been slow because software has only recently become available.

Charles Wolf, an analyst for First Boston Corp., said he thought that Rattigan had a better marketing background than Smith and would do a better job of promoting the Amiga, which he termed the key to the company’s future.

Commodore announced last month that it had reached an agreement in principle with its major lenders establishing a $135-million line of credit through March 15, 1987. The company has been in technical default for failing to comply with some terms of its loan agreements.