Prime Computer Offers to Acquire Computervision for $390 Million

Prime Computer, a leading miniomputer manufacturer, said Sunday that it has made an unsolicited offer to buy Computervision for about $390 million in cash.

Prime, based in Natick, Mass., said it offered $13.50 for each of Computervision’s 29 million outstanding shares. Stock in Computervision, a Bedford, Mass., concern that manufactures computer aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems, closed Thursday at $9 a share.

Joe Henson, Prime Computer’s president and chief executive, told Reuters that Prime has approached Computervision’s management several times over the past two years about a possible merger, and each time they “didn’t want to sit down and discuss it.”

A security guard at Computervision said he had been instructed to say the company would have no comment on the offer.

The merged companies would rank 242nd on the Fortune 500 and would become the world’s second-largest supplier of CAD/CAM software and computers, which allow engineers to do design work on computer terminals.