Seeking to bolster its acquisition war chest, Affiliated Computer Services Inc. said last week it has arranged for a new $90 million credit facility with Bank One Texas and First Interstate Bank Texas.
The proceeds of the five-year loan will be used to refinance an existing credit facility as well as for acquisitions, capital expenditures, and general corporate purposes, said officials of the Dallas-based firm, which provides systems outsourcing and transaction processing services. It has become a Wall Street darling since going public in 1994.
In 1995, its stock price rose an ample 74%, and last week the consensus earnings estimate for fiscal 1996 - as tracked by First Call Corp. - rose 3 cents to $1.59 a share. The company earned $1.37 per share in the 12 months ended June 30, 1995.
The company also announced it has closed a new $11 million revolving cash loan with the unit of Banc One Corp. which will be used to provide cash for automated teller machines outside of Texas. Affiliated Computer owns and operates MoneyMaker, one of the nation's largest nonbank ATM networks.
"Bank One is pleased to be working with ACS, a company with an excellent track record and a proven management team," said Alan Miller, the Texas unit's vice president of corporate lending. "We look forward to a long relationship with the company."
Todd Robichaux, vice president of corporate banking at First Interstate Bank of Texas, added: "ACS is in a superb financial position, a credit to the conservative philosophy that has enabled it to become one of the fastest-growing high technology firms in the Dallas area."
Affiliated Computer also announced last week that it has acquired a majority stake in LAN Co., a provider of network design and installation services and document management systems to law firms and commercial firms in the Northeast.
LAN Co. based in Philadelphia, reported revenue growth of 27% in 1994 and expects to record revenues of approximately $12 million in 1995. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"This acquisition is an important component of ACS' strategy to bolster its presence in the local area/wide area network market," said Larry Schunder, a senior vice president at the Dallas company. "The LAN Co.'s design and implementation skills combined with ACS' mainframe and client/server technical expertise create a powerful network integration team for the rollout of LAN-based technology in business nationwide."
Jeffrey A. Rich, Affiliated Computer's president and chief operating officer, said, "This important combination is in keeping with our efforts to broaden our service offering. Our customers increasingly are asking us to help manage their (computer networks) and desktop environments. Through our merger with The LAN Co., we now can offer them a full range of network implementation and document management services."
