Sysdeco Acquires Two U.S. Vendors

by Judy Grande

With its recent takeover of two U.S. newspaper-system vendors, Norway's Sysdeco Group AS has transformed itself from a regional European software supplier into a major player in publishing systems worldwide.

Sysdeco purchased 80 percent of Atex Publishing Systems Corp. of Bedford, Mass., and is negotiating to buy the remainder from two Dutch banks, says Clive Segal, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the new Atex. Segal is also chairman of Dewar Information Systems Corp., Westmont, Ill., which Sysdeco bought for $1.6 million from technology visionary C. E. Steuart Dewar. Both Atex and Dewar will do business under their original names.

Sysdeco reportedly paid $20 million for the first 51 percent of Atex and increased its ownership to 80 percent by converting a $3 million loan into Atex stock.

Dewar, creator of the popular DewarView program, will be a "very active" paid consultant to Sysdeco and serve on its board of directors, says Segal.

In the past year, Sysdeco has also strengthened its position in the Scandinavian market, with the acquisitions of Uniware AS, a Danish desktop-publishing system supplier, and Sypress Oy, a publishing-software developer in Finland.

While apparently a smart move for Sysdeco, is the consolidation good news for publishers?

Segal thinks so, rejecting the notion it will reduce competition and raise prices. "We haven't removed any choice," he maintains. "We just improved the choice....We believe in producing decent products at decent prices. We will be around."

Judy Grande is a free-lance writer in McLean, Va. Phone is (703) 759-0241.