Computervision Accepts Prime’s Offer

Computervision Corp. announced an agreement Thursday to a $435-million takeover by Prime Computer Inc., ending its resistance to the bid after failing to find a better offer.

The new company would be second only to International Business Machines Corp. in supplying software and equipment for the computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing market. Computervision was a pioneer in the CAD-CAM business but its position had slipped in recent years.

“We are very excited about the opportunities ahead,” Computervision President Robert Gable said in a news release. “Since we have been in discussions with Prime, we realize the very real synergy between both companies and what we can bring” to the CAD-CAM market.

Joe Henson, president and chief executive of Prime, said: “We now will begin working together to build a stronger, more dynamic, more profitable company that we fully expect will be a premier supplier of integrated systems solutions for manufacturing, commercial and technical markets.”

Prime also has a position in the CAD-CAM market, but it primarily is a manufacturer of minicomputers.

Earlier this week, Prime, which is based in Natick, Mass., introduced the MXCL 5 minisupercomputer for numerically intensive computing. It is the first major computer system manufacturer to enter that market.

Prime spokesman Joe Gavaghan said several merger details remained to be worked out before Prime executives would know whether any employees at either company would be laid off.

Prime has about 8,600 employees worldwide, and Computervision has 4,600.