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AMV board discusses sale to FMC By DAVID PRESZLER Advanced Machine Vision's board of directors meets today and is expected to discuss a proposed sale to Chicago-based FMC Corp. The Medford-based maker of optical sorting systems has been seeking a buyer and received FMC's $27 million offer last week. FMC officials hope a deal can be reached by a week from today. FMC officials say the company already owns or has options to buy roughly 26 percent of Advanced Machine, including preferred stock that gives it the right to block any merger or sale of Advanced Machine. FMC also holds one seat on Advanced Machine's eight-member board. It remains unclear what a buyout would mean to the more than 100 employees at Advanced Machine's Medford subsidiary, SRC Vision. FMC officials say it's too soon to comment about what changes, if any, would be made at the SRC Vision plant. The plant is expected to join FMC's food and transportation systems division. Advanced Machine officials have not returned repeated phone calls seeking comment about the buyout or the company's future. Even before the buyout proposal was announced, Advanced Machine took steps to get assistance for workers at SRC Vision. The company applied to the U.S. Department of Labor to secure assistance for workers under the Trade Act of 1974, which grants assistance to employees who have been adversely affected by increased imports. After an investigation, labor officials approved the application. It allows workers who were or are laid off between Nov. 22, 1998, and Jan. 19, 2002, to apply for benefits, including job search assistance, cash benefits and relocation allowances. The department says about 177 workers are eligible and 30 have been laid off since Nov. 22, 1998. According to FMC officials, Advanced Machine employs about 150 people in its two subsidiaries, SRC Vision and Eugene-based Ventek. If the buyout goes through, FMC plans to sell Ventek to Ventek President Rodger Van Voorhis for $2.6 million, according to Securities and Exchange Commission documents. Van Voorhis also sits on Advanced Machine's board. Advanced Machine, then called ARC Capital, purchased Ventek in July 1996 for $3.25 million. In December, it moved to extend the due date of $2.25 million in debt from that deal to July 2001. SEC documents show the debt was initially to be repaid by July 1999. FMC purchased its first stake in Advanced Machine in October 1998. It bought 119,106 shares of preferred stock for $2.6 million, as well as a security interest in SRC Vision's intellectual property. FMC agreed at that time to become an international sales representative for Advanced Machine. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA