Cerplex Renegotiates With Lenders, Will Sell Unit

Cerplex Group Inc. said it has reached new credit agreements with its lenders and has also agreed to sell a circuit board assembly unit that no longer fits into the company’s focus as a provider of repair and other technology services for computer manufacturers.

Write-offs of excess inventory and other restructuring costs last fall had pushed Cerplex into technical default on its financial arrangements with creditors. But the company has resolved the matter, officials said, partly by issuing warrants that entitle lenders to purchase 1.125 million shares of the company’s stock at $6 per share.

Those warrants “are a form of compensation,” said Bruce Nye, a company spokesman, who added that although Cerplex had violated financial performance covenants with its lenders, the company had not failed to make loan payments.

Cerplex also agreed to sell its InCirT Technology operation, which assembled and tested circuit boards under contracts with computer makers, to Pen Interconnect Inc. for $5.8 million in cash and stock.

The transaction is expected to close by April 30, although company officials said that Pen, based in Salt Lake City, had taken control of InCirT operations on April 1. The sale is the latest in a series of moves by Cerplex to focus on high-tech outsourcing services.

“Contract manufacturing in the Southern California market . . . does not fit into our key areas of business,” said James T. Schraith, chief executive of Cerplex.