The new regime at Nixdorf Computer AG is going to have to produce results quickly – and that is likely to mean a more swingeing round of lay-offs than have been made so far – if the company is to retain its independence. Although the Nixdorf family trusts, which control the company, have no interest in or intention of selling out, if the company’s financial performance continues to deteriorate, its woes will begin to look terminal, and sale to one of West Germany’s majors will be seen as the lesser of two evils. Moreover there is a time bomb in the non-voting preference shares at present the only ones freely traded – under West German law, if a company fails to pay a DM4 dividend on such shares for two years in succession, they acquire voting rights.Siemens AG has stepped up the pressure on the company, expressing its interest in acquiring Nixdorf in the strongest terms yet in the wake of the resignation of chief executive Klaus Luft. It adds that it is not currently talking to any major Nixdorf holder – apart from the trusts, Deutsche Bank is the biggest holder. German companies are determined that Nixdorf should not fall into foreign hands, but Siemens would not have the field to itself – steelmaker Mannesmann AG is equally interested in Nixdorf; the foreigners most widely said to be interested are AT&T Co and Olivetti SpA; ICL would likely be interested in a minority holding in Nixdorf.
