Savings for AST: AST Research Inc. of...

Savings for AST: AST Research Inc. of Irvine will pay much less than expected to acquire the computer manufacturing operations of Tandy Corp., based on an audit completed Wednesday.

AST said it will pay $105 million for the computer-related assets of Fort Worth, Tex.-based Tandy instead of its previously announced price of as much as $175 million. The earlier price was subject to revision, depending on the audit.

The price is lower because AST bought fewer assets and assumed more accounts payable than expected. In addition, the company is negotiating to buy one of Tandy’s subsidiaries, Tandy/GRiD France, which sells portable computers in Europe. The price is expected to be less than $10 million payable over three years.

Under the final agreement, AST paid $15 million in cash to Tandy and issued a $90-million note payable over three years.