General Automation Nets $6.2 Million From Stock Sale

General Automation Inc. said it has netted $6.2 million from a recent stock offering, a move that the Anaheim-based company says allows it to eliminate virtually all of its debt and forge ahead with its newest line of microcomputers.

The company said it already has used $2.3 million of the proceeds to pay off some long-term debt. It plans to use an additional $1.4 million to repay notes sold in a private placement last spring and $950,000 to pay an Internal Revenue Service bill.

The remaining $1.5 million from the sale of the 1.5 million shares of common stock will be funneled into the company’s efforts to develop and market its principal product, the Zebra family of microcomputers.

The proceeds to date from the offering do not include funds that could come from the underwriter of the offering, Paine Webber Inc., should it exercise its over-allotment option.

Company executives have said that they have been working to divest nearly every line but the Zebra and to eliminate all of General Automation’s long-term debt. The strategy would give the company freedom to concentrate on its newest line unhampered.