Xplore Technologies buys assets of Motion Computing after foreclosure

Ultra-rugged and fully rugged tablet PC maker Xplore Technologies today announced that it has closed its purchase of substantially all assets of Motion Computing, the world’s second-leading provider of rugged tablet PC that was the subject of a foreclosure, according to Xplore Technologies officials.

Announced yesterday, the deal calls for Xplore Technologies to pay about $9 million for Motion Computing and assume about $7 million of Motion Computing’s net liabilities, according to an Xplore Technologies press release.

Xplore Technologies Chairman and CEO Phillip Sassower said the deal makes sense, because Xplore was planning to expand its business, both companies are located in Austin and both serve different segments of the rugged tablet PC market.

“We are acquiring the Motion business at what we feel can turn out to be an extremely attractive price,” Sassower said during yesterday’s conference call announcing the deal. “In return, we’re getting a complementary product line with little overlap and that uses our same supply-chain strategy, several new marketing channels—including a significant staff presence abroad—and a business based about 20 minutes from our location. That makes the integration easier than normal.”

Because a bank foreclosed on Motion Computing and sold Xplore Technologies the assets, Motion Computing shareholders will receive nothing from the transaction, according to Xplore Technologies officials.

Despite claiming an unaudited $83 million in revenue and 25% gross margins, Motion Computing was an “over-leveraged” private company that lost $7 million last year and was on the verge of bankruptcy, Xplore Technologies officials said. After seeing revenues dip from more than $100 million in 2012, Motion Computing’s fortunes this year “went from bad to worse” when the Korean plant that made screens for about 50% of its products abruptly was shut down, according to Sassower.

While the plant shutdown impacted many industry players, it was particularly detrimental to Motion Computing, which used a build-to-order business model and did not have many screens in inventory, Sassower said. Motion Computing’s significant revenue dropoff resulted in a deal being forged with Xplore Technologies in an accelerated fashion, he said.

“They fell off a cliff; they ran out of money,” Sassower said. “And that’s what precipitated [the Motion Computing sale]. If we had our druthers, we would rather have … several months of due diligence and all of that, but we never had that opportunity.”