El Camino Resources Ltd, a privately-held leasing company based in Northridge, California wants to grow big by prudent business practices, and it has taken a big step towards that goal by buying most of the computer leases held by Econocom-USA Inc, the Memphis, Tennessee-based US subsidiary of Econocom International NV. El Camino says that although mid-range systems are not its greatest source of revenues, it has qualified as an IBM Industry Remarketer, which requires IBM mid-range dealers to meet strict technical and financial standards set by IBM. It also distributes software programs usable with mid-range systems and provides disaster recovery services for both mid-range and mainframe users. Econocom-USA is reported to have more than 60,000 items of computer equipment in use by more than 500 lessees on 3,500 lease schedules, mostly in the south-eastern region of the US, and the acquisition will more than double El Camino’s number of leases and equipment. The company plans to retain most of the offices or sales representatives, which in addition to Memphis, are in Baltimore, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Reno, Tulsa, and Westport, Connecticut. El Camino has 14 offices of its own in the US. In its latest fiscal year to April 30 last, El Camino Resources reported revenues of $255m, a 62% increase over the previous year (CI No 1,536). Cash for the purchase is being put up by Concord Asset Management, Norwalk, Connecticut.
