Olivetti to Purchase U.S. Branch Automation Firm

Expanding its presence in the U.S. computer industry, Italy’s Ing C. Olivetti & C. SpA today said it agreed to acquire a U.S. supplier of branch automation systems to financial institutions for about $174 million.

ISC Systems Corp., based in Spokane, Wash., has agreed to be acquired by the Italian business systems firm for about $12.25 per common share, Olivetti said.

Olivetti said it will merge ISC with Bunker Ramo Corp., Olivetti’s Shelton, Conn.-based subsidiary that also makes computer systems for banking firms. Bunker Ramo said the merger will create one of the largest companies in the U.S. branch automation market, with revenues of about $250 million in 1988.

The merged Bunker Ramo/ISC will go head to head against such computer industry forces as International Business Machines Corp., NCR Corp. and Unisys Corp.

Olivetti acquired Bunker Ramo from Allied-Signal Inc. in 1986.

In a statement, Vittorio Cassoni, managing director of Olivetti, said the acquisition “greatly expands our market share in North America, complementing our leading role in Europe and Japan.”

Olivetti sells personal computers and office systems in the United States through Olivetti USA, a subsidiary based in Somerville, N.J. A Bunker Ramo spokesman said the as-yet-unnamed new firm will operate separately from that unit.

Olivetti also sells its personal computers in the United States under an agreement with American Telephone & Telegraph Co. Cassoni had joined AT&T; in 1986, heading its computer systems group until he left last May to return to Olivetti, his old employer.