Tandon Hires Bear Stearns to Look at Financial Options

Tandon Corp., a once-thriving computer equipment company that has struggled since 1985, said Tuesday that it hired investment banker Bear, Stearns & Co. to help it explore its financial options.

Tandon’s executive vice president and corporate secretary, Ranjit Sitlani, declined to say what alternatives the company was considering. Such options often include spinoffs and leveraged buyouts and other types of acquisitions.

Bear Stearns plans to present Tandon with a “menu” of options by late October and to complete any resulting transactions by the end of the year, said Michael E. Tennenbaum, the firm’s vice chairman of investment banking.

The company’s stock closed Tuesday at 75 cents a share in the over-the-counter market, down 6.25 cents. The stock has fallen from a peak of $34.25 per share in 1983.

Tandon has tried to reposition itself as a maker of personal computers, primarily sold in Europe, since competition and a slumping market for its disk drives led to losses totaling $198 million in 1985 and 1986. The company hired a number of industry veterans to help its PC efforts, but most have since left the company.

Tandon completed the $49-million sale of its hard disk-drive business to Western Digital Corp. of Irvine in March, 1988. This year, Tandon reduced its U.S. work force by 35%, or 240 people, through a combination of layoffs and attrition.

The company lost $20 million on sales of $309 million last year, and lost $12 million on sales of $190 million in the first half of this year.