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To: van wang who wrote (23059)	3/23/1998 12:40:00 AM
From: van wang	Respond to of 97611

CEO EP...welcome to the big leagues... Subject: IBM has unusual credit pact with computer reseller Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 18:02:53 -0800 (PST) From: staff@quote.com To: quotecom-users@quote.com News Alert from Reuters via Quote.com Topic: (NYSE:IBM) Intl Business Machines Corp, Quote.com News Item #5851804 Headline: IBM has unusual credit pact with computer reseller ====================================================================== WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., March 22 (Reuters) - International Business Machines Corp.'s (NYSE:IBM) IBM Credit Corp. unit has reached an unusual credit pact with a computer reseller under which IBM may offer acquisition financing of up to $40 million. IBM Credit Corp. General Manager Stuart Schulman said the agreement, which will be officially announced Monday, calls for IBM to extend a $300 million line of credit to Hartford Computer Group Inc., (NASDAQ:HCGI), $40 million in the form of a loan to fund acquisitions or other investments. In February, Hartford Computer announced it had secured the $300 million facility. It did not disclose the source. For Hartford, a privately-held company that has filed for an initial public offering, the funds should provide financial flexibility at a time when national resellers are using acquisitions as a major means of growing their businesses. For IBM, the deal provides deeper ties to a reseller at a time when the industry is undergoing a rapid consolidation, making loyalty from key partners even more important. "What we get out of it is a long-term relationship and a continued relationship," Schulman said. It also places IBM Credit, which generated $22 billion of IBM's $36 billion in total global financing business last year, in competition with banks and other lenders. However, Schulman said the company is far from starting a broad effort to shop acquisition funds around or engage in bidding wars against banks for lending business. "This is not a product we're going out into the market place and offering every customer," he said. "We were able to customize this to their needs," he said, adding, "in this case we were successful not because of price -- if anything we would have lost the deal for price." Instead, he said, IBM is looking to build on its industry expertise, in some cases offering itself as an alternative when short-term industry downturns have banks shying away. Schulman said IBM worked closely with merchant banking firm Saunders, Karp and Megrue on the deal. Saunders, Karp has invested about $32 million in venture capital into Hartford in exchange for a significant minority equity stake. Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service