Acute shortage of cash and the need to batten on the French taxpayer to shore up its balance sheet has not prevented Compagnie des Machines Bull SA from making a couple of acquisitions. It South Africa, it has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire a controlling interest in software company Information Technology Services Pty Ltd before the end of the year, on undisclosed terms. Information Technology specialises in providing financial information processing services to South African municipalities, and had annual sales of several millions of dollars in 1993, Bull said. It is presently controlled by two of its directors but the South African Black Entrepreneurs group, Mowpipe Investment Group, also plans to take a significant stake in the company. Bull bought Mohawk Computers South Africa in late 1992 and renamed it Bull Computers South Africa. And across the Atlantic, the North American Customer Services operation of Bull’s Bull HN Information Systems Inc in Billerica, Massachusetts signed with Allerion Inc to buy the assets of its Custo mer Support Division, also on un disclosed terms. The Allerion arm does hardware maintenance and soft ware support and did $20m in 1993.
