Trading in the shares in Norsk Data A/S was suspended on the Oslo Stock Exchange yesterday at the company’s request, and trading in the A and B shares was also suspended in London and on the other exchanges where the company’s shares are traded. They will remain suspended until March 2, 1993. The board of Norsk Data is of the opinion that a further clarification of the company’s debt situation must include extensive contact with the company’s financial creditors, the company said, noting that this could create uncertainty about the pricing of the shares. Norsk Data became a holding company after the restructuring on October 1 1991, when all operations were transferred to subsidiaries with separate financing. In December it was able to make a partial repurchase of outstanding German bearer bonds at 25% of nominal value, reducing the bonds outsdanding to a nominal DM77m from a nominal DM150m but was told that the remaining debt position of Norsk Data needed to be further clarified well ahead of July 11 1993, when the remaining bonds mature, Norsk Data said. Since the company was bundled unceremoniously out of the minicomputer business by market forces, it has been looking for a convincing new role. Its most promising business is now the Dolphin Server Technology A/S affiliate, which builds high performance servers around the Motorola Inc 88000 RISC family. At present the suspension does not sound serious, but the danger is that the announcement causes the company’s various businesses to deteriorate further.
