GE Capital to buy AmeriData parent

GE Capital Services was expected late last week to make a cash-tender offer for the parent company of AmeriData Federal Systems, the second-ranked General Services Administration schedule reseller.

GE Capital Services, a Stamford, Conn.-based subsidiary of General Electric Co., announced last Monday that the company planned to acquire the outstanding common stock of AmeriData Technologies Inc. for about $490 million. AmeriData, a Minneapolis computer reseller, had 1995 revenue of $1.5 billion. A spokeswoman for GE Capital Services said the tender offer was scheduled for last Friday or today.

If the deal goes through, GE Capital Services would emerge as a key player in the GSA schedule business. The AmeriData Federal Systems unit generated $59 million in GSA Schedule B/C sales for the government's 1995 fiscal year. That tally makes AmeriData Federal Systems the second-ranked B/C reseller, trailing only Government Technology Services Inc. Officials at AmeriData Federal Systems could not be reached for comment.

The company resells products from such vendors as Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Tektronix Inc. and Toshiba America Inc.

AmeriData would operate as a unit of GE Capital Technology Management Services (TMS), which provides computer equipment leasing, help desk, network and data center outsourcing, among other services. The acquisition would extend GE Capital TMS' reach into product reselling. "We are completing the market basket of services that we can deliver," a spokesman for GE Capital TMS said.

GE Capital TMS, based in Norcross, Ga., would also be able to bolster its federal work through the AmeriData acquisition. "It certainly is a boost," a spokesman for GE Capital TMS said. "We do business with the government, but we're primarily focused on the Fortune 2000."