Mar 31, 2001 - 06:03 AM

Former Fortune 500 Computer Distributor Giving Up The Associated Press

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - A once high-flying computer distributor which had sought bankruptcy protection in order to reorganize financially now says it will sell its remaining assets. MicroAge Inc., which was listed as a Fortune 500 firm last year, had said earlier it intended to reduce its size and become a distributor of niche computer products.

However, creditors pressed MicroAge to scrap that plan and sell its remaining units, and MicroAge filed a reorganization plan Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that provides for liquidation.

Its major remaining unit is Pinacor, the company's distribution arm. A federal bankruptcy judge in December approved sale of the company's most profitable business, MicroAge Technology Services, to CompuCom Systems Inc. of Dallas.

The new plan will go farthest toward repaying creditors, said Jeffrey McKeever, chairman and co-founder of the company.

Michelle Gorel, a spokeswoman for MicroAge, said some of the company's remaining 250 employees would be layed off. The company will continue to operate until buyers are found, MicroAge said.

The company had sales of $30 million when it emerged from a bankruptcy in 1982. It went public five years later, and it had sales of $6 billion the year before it filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization.

When it sought bankruptcy court help a year ago, it had reported losses in six of the preceding nine quarters. The company said at the time it had $620 million in assets and $565 million in liabilities, including $280 million in unsecured debts. It then was employing 4,600 people, more than half of them in Arizona. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA1VZP8ZKC.html

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), March 31, 2001