The buyout by J H Whitney Co of Prime Computer Inc was destined to end in tears before the ink was dry on the loan documents, and in the latest development, the Wall Street Journal reports that the two partners at Whitney most closely associated with the buyout, Russell Planitzer, who remains chairman of Prime, and Don Ackerman, have both resigned their partnerships. Planitzer said that he had resigned to devote all his attentions to the company, which is still floundering in a $1,240m ocean of debt – a figure that is close to the company’s annual turnover. Whitney appears to have come close to washing its hands of Prime – it has reportedly written down its $105m investment in the company, and its managing general partner and two other partners have resigned from the board to be replaced by two outsiders, one of them former Computer Consoles Inc chief John Cunningham, one seat remaining vacant. The biggest creditor is Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc, which was unable to lay off its $500m bridge loan to Prime.
