• Richard Wray and John Cassy
• The Guardian, Wednesday 3 July 2002 21.46 EDT

Alan Sugar yesterday made a second attempt to buy back part of the core business of his Amstrad empire, almost 10 years after his first disastrous attempt to prise the computer company out of public hands.

Mr Sugar said yesterday that he had become increasingly disappointed by the share price performance of Learning Technology, the company which he span out of Amstrad in 1997 as Viglen and later renamed.

Learning Technology manufactures custom-made computers and IT equipment for schools, universities and other public bodies. It is based on much of the original Amstrad PC business that made Mr Sugar's name synonymous with the home computer boom in the 1980s.

The rest of the Amstrad empire has moved into other consumer electronics such as the e-mailer product and mobile phones.

Mr Sugar yesterday offered 40p-per-share in cash for the 31% of Learning Technology he does not already own. At the height of the internet bubble, the shares were changing hands for more than 280p.

The company changed its name to Learning Technology from Viglen following the Mirror share dealing scandal. Viglen was one of the share tips placed in the newspaper's disgraced City Slicker's column.

In 1992 Mr Sugar tried to take Amstrad private, warning that the business had no future other than with liquidators. He was furious when shareholders refused to accept his offer.

This new move to take a sizeable chunk of the business private comes at a time when its market is under threat from the BBC, which is planning to enter the online education and software market.

Companies including Learning Technology's rival RM argue that the BBC's plans to offer educational products funded by the licence fee and offered for free could cost them up to £400m a year in lost revenues.

The corporation's plans are backed by an additional £150m of government funding. The BBC has pledged to limit the amount it spends on mainstream education products already supplied by the commercial sector and focus instead on niche areas not served by the market.

Mr Sugar, who is making the offer through his Amshold vehicle, said yesterday that he had "long been disappointed with Learning Technology's share performance and the lack of market interest in the company".

Once Learning Technology is delisted, he will offer stakes in the business to chief executive Bordan Tkachuk and finance head Michael Ray, who have both worked with the company since it was formed in 1997.

They will continue to manage the company after Mr Sugar has taken control.