Quotron Calls Citicorp’s Merger Offer Inadequate

Quotron Systems on Thursday called Citicorp’s $680-million merger offer inadequate and said it was exploring other alternatives, including finding other suitors or remaining independent.

However, the Los Angeles-based financial information firm stopped short of rejecting Citicorp’s $19-a-share bid outright.

The company said in a statement that its directors and advisers “will continue to carefully evaluate” the offer but that “the developing consensus of the board was that the price . . . was not adequate.”

Citicorp said it was “studying Quotron’s response” but had no further comment.

Quotron’s noncommittal statement, released following a two-day meeting of its board, reflects a belief among company officials and some Wall Street experts that Quotron is worth as much as $20 to $22 a share, analysts said.

Acquisition of Quotron would give New York-based Citicorp, the nation’s largest banking firm, a giant step into the fast-growing information business. Quotron provides electronic stock quotes and other computerized business information to some 88,000 customers.

Some Customers Might Object

The statement also reflects Quotron’s hesitation to commit to a Citicorp bid amid uncertainties about regulatory approvals and customer relations, said Osman Eralp, an analyst with the San Francisco-based investment firm of Hambrecht & Quist.

Quotron Chairman and Chief Executive Milton E. Mohr reiterated Thursday in an interview that some of Quotron’s customers and joint-venture partners might object to Citicorp having access to their confidential business plans.

American Telephone & Telegraph, a key partner that is developing an information system with Quotron, has a clause allowing it to pull out in case of an ownership change at Quotron, Mohr said.

Mohr said Quotron wouldn’t want to risk accepting a Citicorp bid now and face contract cancellations, only to see the merger rejected by the Federal Reserve Board. Citicorp filed last week for regulatory approval, which could take one month or longer.

Quotron’s statement was “a way to disassociate themselves from Citicorp while leaving enough of a door open to accept the bid with regulatory approval and a slightly better price,” Eralp said.

Mohr said no date was set for Quotron’s board to meet again or to make a final decision on Citicorp’s bid. No other offers for the company have been made, he added.

In over-the-counter trading Thursday, Quotron stock closed at $18.625 a share, unchanged.