The saga of the ultimate beneficial ownership of a substantial part of ComputerLand Corp seems finally to have been settled by a San Francisco appeals court, which last Friday upheld the lower court’s decision that a 20% stake in ComputerLand should indeed go to Micro/Vest Corp, an investment firm formed to buy the loan that was made to a direct predecessor of ComputerLand back in 1976 in return for the promise of equity. Micro/Vest has already agreed with ComputerLand’s founder and former owner William Millard that it will accept another 8.5% of the company’s equity to settle a massive punitive damages decision against Millard, so Micro/Vest now owns 28.5% of the company, a stake worth an estimated $72m to $86m according to the valuation in ComputerLand’s prospectus for its frustrated attempt at an initial public offering last autumn, although that valuation was widely regarded as optimistic. ComputerLand, which is now controlled by a New York investment group, is expected to try once again for a public flotation for its shares in the spring.
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