Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Technology Acquisition sold
CompuCom pays $137.4M
BY MIKE BOYER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Entex Information Services said Tuesday it has sold its Technology Acquisition Services business, which employs about 1,000 in Greater Cincinnati, to CompuCom Systems Inc., for $137.4 million.
As part of the deal, Compu Com, a Dallas supplier of computers and services, acquired Entex's corporate account call center in Mason and a computer configuration and distribution center in Erlanger.
The Technology Acquisition Services business accounts for about $1.8 billion of Rye Brook, N.Y.-based Entex's $2.5 billion in annual rev enues last year.
Entex, which first opened the Erlanger computer configuration center in 1988, said the sale will allow it to focus on the faster-growing market for distributed computing services for large firms.
John A. McKenna Jr., Entex chief executive, said that is a $10 billion U.S. market growing at more than 20 percent annually.
After the sale, Entex, which is closely held, will have about $500 million in revenues and 5,000 employees.
CompuCom said the acquisition will double its presence in the network infrastructure market. With the acquisition, CompuCom said it would acquire more than 500 large enterprise clients to add to its existing client base.
The company said John Lyons, former president of Entex's Technology Acquisition Services unit, will join CompuCom's senior management.
“The way in which this acquisition is financially structured should accelerate the continued reduction in our operating costs as a percentage of revenue,” said M. Lazane Smith, CompuCom's chief financial officer.
From an initial employment of a couple of dozen people in 1988, Entex's Erlanger computer configuration center had grown to nearly 500 employees this year.
In 1995, Ohio development officials beat out Kentucky in landing Entex's $10 million expansion in Mason, which was expected to employ 700.
Extex said the sale of the division should result in a loss after write-offs for goodwill, inventories and fixed assets in March quarter results to be reported next week.
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