Lotus to Buy Atlanta Tech Company for $65 Million

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —  Lotus Development Corp., trying to fill a gap in its product line, announced Thursday that it would buy an Atlanta software firm for $65 million.

Lotus said it signed a merger agreement with Samna Corp., which makes word processing products. Samna’s software operates with the increasingly popular Windows graphical system made by Microsoft Corp., Lotus’ main competitor.

Windows makes it easier for computer users to operate personal computers made by International Business Machines Corp. and compatible models.

If completed, the deal would mark the first acquisition by Lotus since a proposed $1.5-billion merger with Novell Inc., another software maker, fell apart at the last minute in May.

Lotus officials said the $18.84-per-share buyout of Samna would represent an important step for the company, which saw earnings plunge by 63% in its most recent quarter.

Lotus has been known more for its 1-2-3 business spreadsheet program. But Richard Eckel, a company spokesman, said word processing is the leading segment of the software industry, and Lotus has been largely absent from that area.

At the same time, customers have been shifting to software that operate with graphics, he said.

Buying Samna will allow Lotus to take advantage of both those trends, Eckel said.

Samna will become the word processing division of Lotus, operating from Atlanta.

Samna had sales of $10.3 million in the first nine months of 1990, compared to $11 million for all of 1989. But the company posted a $1.2-million loss over the first three quarters, largely due to its transition to the graphics-based system.

Lotus had sales of $556 million in 1989. The Cambridge company said it would take a one-time charge of $40 million to $50 million against quarterly earnings when the transaction is completed. It hopes to complete the transaction by the end of the year.