CHS In Deal To Buy BrightStar

Electronic News, Sept 28, 1998

BrightStar, which is based in Miami, is expected to have sales totaling approximately $65 million in its current fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 1998. Sales are expected to increase to approximately $120 million in the next fiscal year. Two-thirds of the company's sales are in the U.S., with the balance in Latin America, and it distributes the products of major manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, Ericcson, Philips and Audiovox.

CHS Electronics will use cash and shares of its stock to pay for th acquisition, with the price to be established on an earn-out basis according to future financial results.

Claudio Osorio, chairman and chief executive officer of CHS, said the addition of BrightStar will position CHS to take advantage of what he expects to be a convergence of telecommunications and information technologies.

"On the horizon is clear evidence that telecommunications equipment like the wireless handsets distributed by BrightStar will be combined with the kind of microcomputer equipment that CHS distributes around the world," Mr. Osorio said. "We will be able to use the existing CHS infrastructure to help BrightStar expand in new directions, and by making BrightStar part of our company we add a strategically important telecommunications dimension to our business." u