Comdisco Acquires Certain Assets of National Equipment Sales & Leasing, Forms New Business Unit to Market Laboratory and Scientific Equipment.

ROSEMONT, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 1995--Comdisco Inc. announced it has acquired certain assets of National Equipment Sales & Leasing Inc. (NESL) of Canton, Mass. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Comdisco also announced it has a formed a new business division, Comdisco Laboratory and Scientific Group (CLSG), which will market asset management, leasing, reconditioned equipment, and related services to the pharmaceutical, chemical, research, biotechnology, and health-care industries.

Ralph L. Greenberg has joined Comdisco as vice president and general manager of the new unit, which will be based near Boston in a 14,000-square-foot reconditioning facility/headquarters.

The worldwide market for new scientific, clinical, environmental, and industrial equipment (used in pharmaceutical, chemical, and laboratory applications) is estimated to be more than $9 billion in 1995, according to the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and the U.S. Industrial Outlook. The equipment to be marketed by the new Comdisco unit includes such devices as blood gas analyzers, autoclaves, chemistry analyzers, centrifuges, microscopes, spectrometers, and chromatography systems.

"For the most part, these are high-cost, leading-edge instruments," noted Steven R. Grundon, executive vice president of marketing for Comdisco Electronics Group, to whom CLSG will report. "Comdisco's years of experience have proven that leasing is often the best way to acquire such equipment, and that users want access to both new and reconditioned equipment from multiple vendors. We're confident that these and other life-cycle asset management services, which we've successfully provided to the computer, semiconductor, and diagnostic imaging markets, will be equally well-received in the laboratory and scientific arenas."

"I'm genuinely excited about the opportunity I have with Comdisco," Greenberg said. "The market is ripe for our services. With Comdisco's financial strength, vendor independence, and worldwide presence, we anticipate rapid growth for our division."

Through its medical subsidiaries, Comdisco already is the world's largest independent lessor and reconditioner of diagnostic imaging equipment, and has a large health-care customer base. Comdisco Medical Equipment Group will co-market CLSG's services to these accounts. "We've got relationships with senior executives at many of the country's largest hospital networks," noted Kenneth A. Halverson, president of Comdisco Medical Equipment Group Inc. "The asset management strategies a hospital employs for diagnostic imaging equipment are going to be very similar for biomedical lab equipment and instrumentation, so we'll be able to hit the ground running."

Interested companies can contact Comdisco Laboratory and Scientific Group at 65 Shawmut Road, Canton, Mass., 02021, [phone].

Comdisco Inc. (NYSE:CDO) is one of the world's leading providers of solutions that help organizations reduce technology cost and risk. These services include asset management, equipment leasing and remarketing, business continuity, and systems integration. Comdisco's revenue totaled $2.1 billion for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1994.

CONTACT: Comdisco Inc., Rosemont

Neal Lulofs, 708/518-5616