TECHNOLOGY - Aug. 31, 1996

Merisel Sells Certain Foreign Businesses for $160 Million: The sale to CHS Electronics Inc. includes most of Merisel Inc.’s European operations and all of its Latin American businesses. Under the accord, CHS will pay $130 million in cash and assume $30 million of debt. The agreement completes a process begun in April, when El Segundo-based Merisel, a money-losing computer and software distributor, hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to help it explore selling all or part of the company. The transaction will make Miami-based CHS Electronics the second-largest computer- and software-products distributor in western Europe and give it a substantial presence in Mexico for the first time. The businesses being sold generated 33%, or about $1.5 billion, of Merisel’s $4.6 billion of revenue last year. After the sale, Merisel’s only remaining European business will be a minority stake in a Russian distributor.