Debentures Sale Nets Brunswig $40 Million

Bergen Brunswig Corp. officials said that the company’s $43-million offering of exchangeable subordinated debentures was sold Wednesday, netting about $40 million for the Orange-based pharmaceuticals and consumer electronics company. The offering was underwritten by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.

The debentures are exchangeable for shares of Class A common stock of Bergen Brunswig’s Commtron Corp. subsidiary. Commtron on Tuesday netted approximately $23 million with an initial public offering of 2 million shares of Class A common stock at $12 per share.

Bergen Brunswig, which now owns 80% of Commtron and will own about 51% if all of the debentures are exchanged, plans to use the proceeds of the two offerings to repay bank debt that was incurred primarily to finance acquisitions.