ETC woos DTN on the rebound

ETC has swooped on troubled Data Translation Networking (DTN) more than a month after its initial bid for the firm was rejected.

One source close to DTN said it returned to Datrontech after other bids proved unsatisfactory. 'When Datrontech did not like what it saw, ETC went back in and clinched the deal,' he said.

Last week, PC Dealer revealed that 'a large computer distributor' had bought the company and that Datrontech had denied making a bid.

DTN will relocate to premises owned by ETC parent SCH and will continue to trade under the same name.

Marketing manager Steve Lockie will stay on under the new ownership, but finance controller Rob Evans has been head-hunted by Jens Montanana as finance director for his Volante/Data Guardian/Inform group. The role of DTN VP Paul Silver was unknown as PC Dealer went to press.

Sources said that ETC paid #750,000 for DTN, estimated to be the value of the distributor's net assets.

One said: 'There will have to be economies of scale. No one would want to carry on the way they have been.'

But Lockie said any problems could be sorted out by investment from ETC.

'We have excellent core skills, key personnel and a strong name, but we are a small specialist distributor,' he said.