Dataproducts Directors Could Face Ouster Attempt

A New York investment group that wants to buy Dataproducts Corp. in Woodland Hills said it may seek shareholder support to oust the company’s directors after failing to obtain confidential financial information from the computer printer maker.

The group, DPC Acquisition Partners, owns about 8% of Dataproducts. The information it has been negotiating for is being given by Dataproducts’ investment bankers to prospective buyers of the company. DPC is led by John K. Castle, former chief executive of the Wall Street firm Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

DPC said Dataproducts insisted on “unreasonable” conditions in exchange for the information. Those conditions, the group said, included forbidding DPC to bid for the company without permission from Dataproducts’ directors, forbidding DPC to solicit proxies from Dataproducts’ shareholders for more than two years and prohibiting the group from selling its shares in the open market for an indefinite time.

Jack Davis, Dataproducts chairman and chief executive, could not be reached for comment. The company’s annual meeting is expected to be in August.