PerfectData to Be Acquired by Graphics Firm

Bishop Graphics Inc., a Westlake Village maker of printed circuit design products, announced Tuesday an agreement in principle to buy all of the stock of Chatsworth-based PerfectData Corp.

Bishop said it plans to buy the computer peripherals maker by Sept. 1 with an undisclosed amount of its own stock, assuming that the deal wins approval from both companies’ directors and shareholders.

“I think it’s going to work out very nicely between the two,” said Donald Sinsabaugh, who follows PerfectData for the Wall Street firm of Swergold, Chefitz & Sinsabaugh. He estimated that the purchase would cost Bishop $10 million.

The merger would produce a company with combined annual sales exceeding $20 million. PerfectData reported revenue of $6.1 million for the fiscal year ended March 31. Bishop’s revenue was $14.6 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 1984.

Low-Technology Graphics

Martin Salvin, Bishop’s president, said the proposed acquisition is part of Bishop’s expansion in the computer-aided design field and into other computer products.

Bishop is a leading supplier of low-technology graphics products used by designers of printed circuits, but that business has been eclipsed in recent years by computer-aided design, or CAD, allowing faster and more precise work.

Bishop’s first foray into CAD was a costly flop last year. It has since re-entered the market, pinning its hopes on a far cheaper system using Apple Computer’s Macintosh.

PerfectData makes and sells a disk drive head cleaner as well as computer cleaning and maintenance kits. PerfectData also makes floppy disks in conjunction with Polaroid and Permabyte Magnetics. PerfectData owns 58% of Permabyte.

“Conceptually, it sounds very exciting,” said Joseph Garipoli, an analyst with Herzog, Heine, Gedud in New York, of the acquisition. But he added, “It’s very, very early to evaluate this thing.”

Analysts said that Bishop’s national distribution network should benefit PerfectData and that PerfectData should help Bishop get into the computer business.

Chairman Paul Davis of PerfectData, which went public in 1983, said the company has nearly $3 million in cash.