Latest intelligence on the shadowy consortium being put together to launch a bid for Unisys Corp reveals an Israeli connection. Word out of Tel Aviv is that the Israeli government is particularly concerned that parts of Unisys should survive and thrive because key defence and security agencies of the government are major users of machines from the former Sperry Corp – 1100 series mainframes, presumably, which are also widely used by the US government. Israel of course could not afford to finance a bid of the size needed, and word from that quarter is that both Japanese and European money has been pledged – and, as reported (CI No 1,817), Digital Equipment Corp provides the consortium its insight into the computer industry, although DEC’s financial involvement is likely to be less than 30%. The deal has been cooking for about three months, and there remain big question marks over whether the consortium, which includes Lord King, former IBM Europe executive Edgar Neufeld, and Professor Kenneth Smith, will ever reach the point where it can make a formal bid – the Israeli connection says that Charterhouse Bank Ltd is now out of the picture, and some observers suggest that the original story was planted in USA Today in order to rally the fainthearts. As for US Defence Secretary Dick Cheney, who, as we revealed, is also involved, his role is simply to ensure that the Paramax Corp defence electronics is successfully floated or passes into safe hands. Israel is ever keen to expand its industrial base and part of the price for its contribution to the effort is expected to be transfer of some of Unisys’ manufacturing to Israel.
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