Competitor Agrees to Buy CIE Systems
Computer manufacturer General Automation said Thursday that it has agreed to acquire CIE Systems of Irvine for $4 million in cash and notes.
CIE Systems, a division of C. Itoh Electronics Inc. of Irvine and a direct competitor of General Automation, is a small manufacturer of business computers with annual revenue of about $13 million. The company employs 60 people.
Donald Rutherford, General Automation’s vice president of finance, said the companies fit well together because they are in the same markets and their products incorporate similar technology. General Automation and CIE supply computers that use the Pick operating system, a basic software program that manages the computer’s operations.
CIE “is a premier supplier of Pick-based computer systems in many of the worldwide markets currently served by General Automation,” said Leonard N. Mackenzie, General Automation’s vice chairman. The combination of the two firms “will create an even stronger force in the Pick marketplace,” he added.
CIE also supplies computers to Sanderson Computers Ltd. of Sheffield, England, a unit of Sanderson Electronics PLC, which holds a 35% stake in General Automation.
The acquisition, which is subject to completion of a final agreement, is scheduled to be completed in early 1990, the two companies said.
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