MAI Chief to Pay $30 Million to Up His Stake in Firm to 51%

MAI Basic Four Chairman Bennett S. LeBow, having failed in his recent hostile bid for Prime Computer, plans to raise his personal stake in MAI to 51% by investing $30 million in the Tustin computer maker.

The announcement comes a week after MAI said it expects to report a “significant� third-quarter loss and is laying off 400 people--or nearly 10% of its work force.

MAI officials said Friday that LeBow, a New York investor who now owns 37% of MAI, will make a $30-million cash investment in MAI stock through Brooke Partners, a New York investment firm that he controls.

Brooke Partners will also convert $25 million in MAI preferred stock that it holds into common stock in MAI.

“We believe this is the best means necessary to strengthen our balance sheet and allow us to become the kind of force we want to be in the computer market,� said Eric L. Christensen, a MAI attorney. “We are quite pleased at this $30-million cash investment.�

A spokesman for LeBow said he was traveling Friday and unavailable for comment.

In New York Stock Exchange trading, MAI’s stock closed Friday at $4 a share, down 50 cents, or 11%.

LeBow and a business partner, William Weksel, MAI’s president, currently own a combined 43% stake in MAI. LeBow controls an additional 17% through family trusts.

Last year, LeBow tried to sell MAI but could not find a buyer willing to pay his asking price. In November, MAI launched a hostile tender offer for Prime, a Natick, Mass., computer company. MAI lost its bid for Prime when the company agreed to be acquired by a New York venture-capital firm.