Itron, Design Concepts Strike Deal Merger Agreement Expected To Close Within A Few Days

Itron Inc. Thursday announced an agreement to buy Design Concepts Inc., a Boise supplier of telephone-based devices for remote reading of electric meters.

Terms call for Itron to issue 759,000 unregistered shares of common stock to DCI shareholders in exchange for all their shares.

Based on the Thursday closing price for Itron stock - $22 - the deal would be valued at $16.7 million. The merger will be accounted for as a pooling of interests treated as a tax-free reorganization. Closure is expected within a few days.

Spokeswoman Mima Scarpelli said Itron, which is headquartered in the Spokane Valley, wanted to add DCI’s telephone-based technology for reading meters to its own radio-based product line.

Devices that collect information over telephone lines make sense in rural areas where deploying a radio network would be too costly, she said.

Some capabilities of the system, like detecting outages and power quality, may be adopted for Itron equipment, she added.

Scarpelli said DCI’s work force of 35 would continue hardware and software development in Boise.

Sales and distribution would be handled by Itron, she said. And manufacturing, now contracted out, may eventually be brought into Itron plants in Spokane and Minnesota.

DCI’s 1996 sales were about $2 million, Scarpelli said, but a new product line was expected to double that total this year.

, DataTimes