Ferranti International Plc has decided that it still needs to make a rights issue to complete the restructuring of its blanace sheet in the wake of the agreement to sell the Edinburgh Ferranti Defence Systems Group plus some of the Italian interests to GEC Plc for UKP310m, but has not yet set the new, lower sum to be raised; the shareholder meeting set for early next month will now be adjourned, and a new one called for about one month’s time: news of the GEC agreement – which was essential to get West German backing for use of Ferranti’s radar in the European Fighter Aircraft – came through to us at 8.30pm on Tuesday, by which time Computergram was safely tucked up in the post; in the circumstances it was something of a coup to squeeze UKP310m out of GEC for the business – Thomson-CSF SA reportedly walked away after having offered between UKP180m and UKP200m for the radar business; Ferranti retains its naval computing and systems business, its civil computer systems arm, telecommunications interests, notably the embryonic Zonephone Telepoint business, and its weapons businesses.
