Despite the Atlantic Computers Plc debacle, computer leaser El Camino Resources Ltd of Northridge, California has succeeded in raising enough investment capital from Japan Leasing Corp and Applied Technology Corp to enable El Camino to triple and more its current $100m annual lease volume to at least $300m of acquisition value, and increase its opportunities for sale and lease of used computer equipment in Japan. In its fiscal year to April 30, 1990, privately-held El Camino’s sales topped $240m and the company expects that the added growth ability from the new investment will place El Camino among the 10 largest computer equipment leasing companies in the US. Japan Leasing is owned by more than 80 major Japanese banks, insurance companies and industrial firms. Applied Technology has been serving Europe and the Pacific Rim with leasing and broking services for more than six years. Terms were not disclosed, but Japan Leasing and Applied Technology will each buy a 12.5% stake in the company. The new Japanese financing will be directed predominantly toward the IBM large systems and AS/400 mid-range systems leasing markets. Additional expansion is also planned for the company’s DEC division, trading Digital Equipment Corp VAX computers, and for other peripheral businesses including communications and office equipment, bank point-of-sale and CAD/CAM systems. El Camino also has a new joint venture with Global Marine Inc, which offers a full spectrum of disaster recovery services, ranging from contingency planning to hardware replacement and hot and cold site systems.
