Motorola to Buy Printrak for $160 Million
Electronics maker Motorola Inc. said Tuesday it agreed to acquire Printrak International Inc. for $160 million in cash, gaining a maker of software that will improve fire and police dispatching on Motorola’s two-way radios.
Motorola said it will pay $12.14 for each share of Printrak stock, up 3.3% from Printrak’s closing price Tuesday. But the offer represents a premium of about 35% over the stock price in the last two months.
Printrak, which is based in Anaheim, supplies software and related services for public safety and other customers. It logged sales of $109.9 million last year. Its computer programs help manage fingerprinting, photo storage and records.
Motorola, which is based in Schaumburg, Ill., is one of the biggest sellers of two-way radios for voice and data used by police, fire departments, ambulance teams and other public-safety agencies. Its sales totaled nearly $31 billion last year.
Printrak’s stock closed Tuesday at $11.75, up 13 cents a share, in Nasdaq trading. Motorola shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, rose 25 cents to $35.75.
Motorola said it expects to complete the transaction in the fourth quarter.
Printrak, which has about 600 employees, including 310 in Orange County, would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Motorola and continue to operate from its Anaheim headquarters. No job cuts are planned, Motorola said.
Printrak was founded in 1974 as a unit of Rockwell International Corp., which sold it to London-based De La Rue Group in 1981. After years of losses, the unit was sold in 1991 to a Printrak management team that included current Chief Executive Richard M. Giles, who launched a corporate overhaul that put the company in the black.
The company went public five years later.
Although Printrak has been profitable, the company’s net income fell 29% to $1.2 million, or 9 cents a share, in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, about half of what analysts had been expecting. The company attributed the decline to higher expenses for research and development, as well as a bump in administrative expenses from adding senior management. Net income for the last fiscal year also fell about 30%.
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Printrak Motorola Business: Fingerprint ID Electronics, systems, other Two-way radios software Cell-phones Headquarters Anaheim Schaumburg, Ill. Employees 600 130,000 OC employees 310 N.A. Chief executive Richard M. Giles Christopher B. Galvin Profits $7.9 million $817 million Annual Revenue $109 million $31 billion Stock price $11.75 $35.75 Market Nasdaq NYSE
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Sources: Bloomberg News, Printrak, Motorola
