COLE'S NEWSWIRE, Nov. 15, 1996

Nov. 15, 1996
Vol. 2, No. 49

This is a special edition of COLE'S NEWSWIRE, which is a weekly distribution of information about suppliers to the publishing industry.

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SYSDECO GROUP ASA
The Norway-based software company has announced plans to spin off its media business into a separate company that will encompass the businesses of its former Atex, Comtec, SyPress Oy and Dewar holdings. Sysdeco will fund the new entity with an offering to its existing shareholders.

Sysdeco said its goal is to raise $16 million for the new business through an offering to existing shareholders. Plans call for the business to remain privately held for 18 to 24 months, after which it would become a publicly traded company listed "on an appropriate exchange, but not in Norway."

The spin-off business has yet to have been named, but the Sysdeco board of directors has appointed Larry Mihalchik -- Sysdeco's recently appointed senior vice president and chief financial officer -- to be chief executive officer of the new enterprise. Mihalchik most recently was senior vice president, chief financial and chief administrative officer of M\A COM Inc., a $354 million, publicly traded company that manufactures electronic components and devices for wireless communications and military applications. He has also held senior management positions at Lisp Machine Inc. and Chomerics Inc.

The company also reported a loss of $10 million on third-quarter revenues of $17.53 million. Restructuring charges will bring the third-quarter loss to almost $14 million. Sysdeco said these latest results bring its losses for 1996 to $18.7 million on revenues of $65 million.

In a related matter, Sysdeco said Norwegian security officials have decided against requiring Deutsche Bank and its Morgan Grenfell Asset Management subsidiary from acquiring the remaining shares of Sysdeco it does not already own. This situation stemmed from a rogue banker surreptitiously acquiring more than a majority of the company, thereby violating a Norwegian security law (see THE COLE PAPERS, October 1996).

Sysdeco is on the World-Wide Web at http://www.sysdeco.com/.

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COLE'S NEWSWIRE is compiled by Pete Wetmore and distributed by The Cole Group, publishers of THE COLE PAPERS and COLE'S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING SYSTEMS, and consultants to newspapers and magazines worldwide. To receive more information about The Cole Group, send e-mail to: info@colegroup.com.

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