The Cole Digest, April 12, 1995

Last October's death of Peter Purdy, industry pioneer and chairman of International Publishing Associates Holding Ltd., apparently also brought the death of plans to merge two of IPA's divisions -- Monotype and Berthold -- with Information International Inc.

On Nov. 1, Triple-I of Los Angeles announced that the proposed acquisition of Monotype Systems and H. Berthold had "been terminated and all negotiations have ceased."

In August, the industry warmly greeted the announcement that Triple-I -- a publicly held company that in recent years has purchased Camex, Diadem, DigiFlex and Xitron -- would buy Monotype and Berthold and merge them into its operations.

It seemed a good match: Triple-I traditionally has had a weak presence in Europe and the Pacific Rim; Monotype has always loomed large in those markets.

IPA -- a holding company that in addition to Monotype and Berthold owns Freedom System Integrators of Wichita, Kan., QED Technology Ltd. of Cheltenham, England, and GB Techniques of Prestwick, Scotland -- was created by Purdy, longtime industry executive Charles Crocker and Italian investor Tullio Ponzi in 1992 and '93. Crocker left the business in 1993.

Charles Ying, the president and chief executive of Triple-I, responded to inquiries about the canceled merger on the Internet in a message posted Nov. 10.

"Without [Purdy's] drive and determination to make the merger happen," wrote Ying, "the deal soon deteriorated to a point where it became obvious that it wasn't going to happen."

As another industry executive put it, "When Purdy was gone, the architect of the deal was gone."

The deal apparently would have called for Triple-I to turn over stock to IPA. Purdy was to have had a seat on the Triple-I board of directors.

Triple-I and Monotype had anticipated the completed merger by combining their U.S. sales forces in September. By mid-November, the sales forces had returned to their respective corners.

In addition, Triple-I also announced in November that its previous manufacturing and marketing agreement with ECRM of Tewksbury, Mass., for the 3850 imagesetter had been terminated and that Triple-I would set up a new manufacturing facility and again begin building the product.

Since the first of the year, Triple-I has greatly expanded its marketing efforts in the United States as well as overseas. A quartet of executives have been hired to help Triple-I marketing:

*Alden Edwards was named senior vice president for sales and marketing. A longtime supplier executive, Edwards was with Atex and Singer before joining System Integrators Inc. of Sacramento. In his 11 years with SII, Edwards started as veep of sales and marketing, became chief operating officer in the mid-'80s, led the management buyout of the publicly held company in 1989, rose to president and chief executive of the private company and took early retirement in July 1992. Edwards, who was Atex's veep of marketing, joins other Atex refugees at Triple-I, including President Ying and Senior Vice President Harry Dahl.

*Max Coebergh was named general manager, international sales. Coebergh too is a longtime Atex executive, who ran both the company's international and North American operations. He left Atex in 1993 to join AMP, the connector company, where he built a Local Area Networking division.

*Andy Smith was named manager of United Kingdom sales. Smith had spent most of his career with Atex as well, having worked in the U.K. and in Singapore, where he ran the Asia-Pacific division. In 1993 he was in charge of the North American operations for Atex.

*Jean-Marc Acquaviva was named general manager for France. A 17-year veteran of the printing and publishing industries, Acquaviva was instrumental in selling many French newspapers systems from System Integrators.

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink members every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1995, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted. [THE COLE PAPERS is a monthly newsletter devoting itself to technology, journalism and publishing. Subscriptions are $117 for 12 issues ($135 outside the U.S.). MasterCard, Visa and American Express cards are accepted. For more information, e-mail cole@plink.geis.com, call (415) 673-2424, fax (415) 673-2449 or write The Cole Group, 2590 Greenwich St., Ste. 9, San Francisco USA 94123-3333.]