CalComp Buys Biggest of Its Distributors : Acquisition: The move is part of an effort to help finance the rapid growth of Access Graphics Technology of Boulder.
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ANAHEIM — CalComp Inc., a computer graphics equipment manufacturer, said Wednesday that it has acquired its biggest domestic distributor for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition of Access Graphics Technology Inc. of Boulder, Colo., is part of an effort to help finance the distributor’s fast growth. It also is expected to boost Anaheim-based CalComp’s revenue 20% this year.
Access Graphics, formed in 1988 by the merger of three CalComp distributors, will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary with its same management and about 120 employees. Access, which accounted for nearly 4% of CalComp’s $400 million in revenue last year, distributes primarily to engineers who use computers to help design their projects. It has 22 offices nationwide.
“This is an attractive financial investment for us,” said William P. Conlin, CalComp president.
Access will post revenue of about $120 million for this year if sales continue at the current pace. As a result of the acquisition, CalComp’s sales could be boosted by about $80 million for all of 1991. CalComp is a subsidiary of the Lockheed Corp.
Access Graphics was recently awarded a “significant” contract to carry Sun Microsystems’ line of workstations based on the UNIX operating system, but the distributor knew that it would not qualify for a bank loan to help finance the increased workload, Conlin said.
“Bank loans are very difficult to come by today, except for traditional low-risk investments,” he said. “And banks are touchy about whom they lend to because they’re under such heavy regulatory control.”
Access, Conlin said, has a heavy demand for cash flow and a thin profit margin, as do most distributors. “They knew they’d have a tough time getting a loan from a bank,” he said.
So CalComp, which already owned a 25% stake in the firm, offered to acquire Access and provide it with funds for expansion.
John B. Ramsey, president and chief executive of Access, said in prepared remarks that such “corporate capitalizations” are welcomed by small firms looking for alternatives to traditional financing sources.
“In the computer industry, it’s unfortunate that it has been the Japanese that have been doing most of the acquiring,” Conlin said. “I think it’s a healthy sign that a U.S. company is helping out another U.S. company.”
CalComp manufactures plotters, printers and digitizers used to produce computer-generated graphics images.
