Bonneville International Puts Quote Unit On The Market; Asking Price Said To Be Several Million

Bonneville Telecommunications Corp., a leading quote vendor in the commodity markets, has been put up for sale by its parent company, Bonneville International Corp. The price tag was not revealed, but is thought to be several million dollars, and any buyer would have to be prepared to invest several million more.

The quote unit, which includes a telecommunications network, "doesn't meet ownership's needs at the present time," says Blaine Whipple, chief financial officer at Bonneville International, a broadcasting company owned by the Mormon Church. Whipple declines further comment. Keith Whisenant, president of Salt Lake City-based Cato, Inc., which is handling the transaction for Bonneville International, could not be reached.

BTC president Ken Bentley is more forthcoming. "We're actively pursuing the right kind of merger or venture capital management buyout kind of approach," he says. BTC's parent company is "not really geared up to aggressively go after a high growth, high technology kind of marketplace," says Bentley, meaning, apparently, that its executives prefer to run a cash cow business like broadcasting.

"They've been very supportive and they need to get something out of the business for that patience and investment," says Bentley, who declines comment on the size of Bonneville International's contribution to date. One source places Bonneville's losses on the unit in recent years at $8 million, mostly in connection with the development of the company's FM sideband data network. The quote business itself is said to be profitable, however.

Bonneville's flagship quote product is "Market Monitor," which is thought to have about 2,000 customers. Last year, the company introduced an Apple Macintosh version of Market Monitor, along with a companion stock market product, but neither has many subscribers. In a barter arrangement, BTC distributes the "Comstock" quote feed from Commodity Quotations, Inc. in exchange for use of CQI's stock market data.

Bonneville's split personality -- quote vendor and network services provider -- could prove to be a headache for a potential acquirer. Bentley says he's already "given a stiff arm" to several information providers that expressed interest in the company, so that there could be no eventual conflict of interest in providing network services to other IPs. But on the other hand, how many telecommunications companies want to be in the commodity quote business?

This dilemma may help to explain the recent reorganization of BTC along functional lines (MTR, January 1986). The parent company apparently doesn't want to break up the unit in order to sell it, but the reorganization into financial information and data network divisions could make a post-sale spinoff of one or the other much easier.

Word of the sale has reached some of Bonneville's competitors, Bentley says, who are using the uncertainty as a marketing weapon. Thus BTC "is trying to make this thing move as quickly as possible." The parent company, he says, hopes to have all firm offers on the table within the next few weeks. At present there are four active bidders, and the most aggressive are "those who have the most inside knowledge of our organization," says Bentley.