Datatronic AB, the Stockholm-based company that made its fortune distributing Commodore International Ltd machines in Sweden, and shot to fame when it bought Victor Technologies Inc out of bankruptcy for $25m in 1984, is itself changing hands. Quoted on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, where its shares were suspended on Wednesday, the company has fallen under the control of Proventus AB, a Swedish holding company that is the dominant shareholder of financial services company Gotagruppen AB. Proventus, an existing backer of Datatronic with 8.4%, has increased that to 67.6% by buying the entire holding of the company’s founder and chairman, Mats Gabrielsson. Proventus now wants to make the company a wholly-owned subsidiary and its third industrial unit. It is bidding SKr85 a share for the remaining shares outstanding in an offer valuing Datatronic at the equivalent of $115m. For 1987, Datatronic reported pre-tax profit of $17.9m on turnover of about $140m. The offer is conditional on Proventus getting enough acceptances to give it 90%, but it may go ahead with the offer without.
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