premise: "We'd like to continue to reduce debt," President Lawrence Perlman said. Noting that the company is offering to buy back $154.2 million in senior notes paying 12 3/4%, he said the response will help determine future debt-reduction efforts. The offer was automatically triggered by the recent sale of Control Data's Imprimis disk-drive business to Seagate Technology Inc.
  Mr. Perlman, who is also acting chief financial officer and the odds-on favorite to become the next chief executive, said the company is achieving "modest positive cash flow from operations, and we expect that to continue into 1990."
  He said the company has no intention of tapping its short-term bank lines "for a good part of 1990." Sometime next year, Control Data will " develop a new bank relationship," Mr. Perlman said. In recent months a group of lenders, led by Bank of America, has extended Control Data up to $90 million in revolving loans through January, as well as $115 million in standby letters of credit.
   What caused Control Data to offer to buy back senior notes?
hypothesis: sale of Control Data's Imprimis disk-drive business