Betacom
Encyclopedia
Founded in 1966, Betacom is an electronics company specialising in audio and visual products. In 1992 Sir
Sir
Sir is an honorific used as a title , or as a courtesy title to address a man without using his given or family name in many English speaking cultures...

 Alan Sugar
Alan Sugar
Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British entrepreneur, media personality and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m , and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011...

's Amstrad
Amstrad
Amstrad is a British electronics company, now wholly owned by BSkyB. As of 2006, Amstrad's main business is manufacturing Sky Digital interactive boxes....

 purchased a 29.9% stake in the company from Canon Street Investments PLC. A rights issue and subscription increased Amstrad's shareholding in Betacom to 71.3%. Betacom, a UK based domestic telephone supplier provided Amstrad with a foothold in the developing telecommunications market .

The following year, repayment and cancellation of share capital involving a scheme of arrangement
Scheme of arrangement
A scheme of arrangement is a court-approved agreement between a company and its shareholders or creditors...

, as a result of which Amstrad's shareholding in Betacom reduces to 66.2%

In 1996, Amstrad granted Betacom a licence to use the Amstrad brand on consumer electronics products.

In 1997 Amstrad plc was de-listed from the stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...

 and each shareholder received loan notes, shares in Viglen Technology
Viglen
Viglen Ltd provides IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services.- History :...

 plc (a newly listed company), shares in Betacom plc and a letter of entitlement to the potential net proceeds arising from two court cases. In November of the same year, Betacom plc changed its name to Amstrad PLC.

In 1999, Amstrad sold the Betacom business to Alba plc
Alba (electronics)
Harvard International plc is a British consumer electronics company, which owns the Goodmans and iLuv brands....

 along with Answercall and Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...

branded telecommunications business for £4M in cash.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK