Victor Says Creditors Will Be Paid 14 -18 Cents on $1

A Swedish firm’s acquisition of 90% of bankrupt Victor Technologies Inc. is to be completed Friday under a reorganization plan giving creditors 14 cents to 18 cents on the dollar, Victor said Tuesday.

Scotts Valley, Calif.-based Victor, one of the early victims of the shakeout in the small-computer industry, is being acquired by Datatronic AB, a European technology firm. Named president and chief executive of Datatronic’s new subsidiary was Eric S. Hass, 39, who had those titles at Source Technologies, Mukilteo, Wash.

The reorganization plan has Datatronic providing $21 million in cash and $7 million in a letter of credit guaranteeing a two-year promissory note payable to creditors. About $12 million will be distributed to unsecured creditors, or 14 cents to 18 cents on the dollar, Victor said.

Datatronic gets 90% of Victor’s stock, a $10-million, five-year promissory note and a $5-million promissory note from the subsidiary.

Victor, which sought protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in February, 1984, said its office-products business will be “revitalized” to assume an importance equal to that of its computer business. The firm will introduce “several new products” this spring, it said. It makes small computers, calculators and electronic cash registers.

Last November, Victor introduced a 25-pound portable computer, the imported, $3,495 Vicki, and other products aimed at small-business customers.

Datatronic Chairman Mats Gabrielsson remains chairman of Victor’s board and will “participate actively in the management,” the company said.

Victor, founded in 1918 as Victor Adding Machine Co., got into the computer business in 1982 when it merged with Sirius Systems Technologies.