The revolving door of suitors for Gould Computer Systems has at last stopped spinning, and inside when it came to a halt was Encore Computer Corp (CI No 1,131), which has reached definitive agreement to acquire the Fort Lauderdale minimaker and hopes to have the deal wrapped up by the end of the month. The price to be paid by the Marlborough minimaker is $140m cash and between 10.6m and 11.3m shares – the equity element has an indicated value of between $30.9m and $33.9m. But it looks rather as if the vendor – Nippon Mining Co Ltd, which now owns Gould, is paying Encore to take the business away because Gould will put up $140m of bridge financing for a full year. The transaction is conditional on Encore getting commitments for some additional finance.
