Oak Industries Sells Interest in Finance Firm

SAN DIEGO —  As part of its ongoing divestiture of divisions that fall outside its components business, Oak Industries on Thursday announced the sale of its 50% interest in Heller-Oak Communications Finance Corp.

Oak officials said the company received a “lump sum” of $3 million on Dec. 31 from Heller Financial, the Chicago-based financial services firm that became the co-owner of Heller-Oak Communications when the joint venture was formed in 1972.

Oak officials reasserted that the sale was “part of its plan to focus on Oak’s future growth in its components businesses and to strengthen cash reserves.”

During a special meeting on Feb. 20, Oak shareholders will vote on Allied-Signal’s proposed $160-million purchase of the company’s materials group. If the complicated transaction is approved, Allied-Signal also will pump $15 million into Oak in return for a nearly 32% ownership stake and three seats on Oak’s board.

Earlier this week, Oak, which also has its communications division on the sales block, announced that the division had signed contracts for $2.5 million worth of its Sigma cable television signal converters. The sale followed a $23-million sale earlier in January.

The contracts represent “the beginning of an industrywide trend toward upgrading and rebuilding of systems to the current state-of-the-art technology,” according to Oak Communications President John P. Donohue.