I had a feeling it was Furkawa......a periodic seller.
Yahoo had a little more info on the Furukawa sale. - peggylynn
Tuesday June 20 4:48 PM ET
Major JDS Block Trade Leads Nasdaq Market Volume
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Shares in JDS Uniphase Corp. (NasdaqNM:JDSU - news) (Toronto:JDU.TO - news) led volume trade on Nasdaq on Tuesday as a block sale of 7.7 million shares valued at $962.5 million was executed by CIBC World Markets and Banc of America.
It is widely believed that JDS Uniphase's largest shareholder, Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. (5801.T) sold the stock and that a handful of institutional buyers purchased the shares.
``There's been a block around for a while and the seller has been rumored to be Furukawa -- I think it's doubtful that it's anybody else,'' said Kevin Slocum, telecommunications analyst at Wit SoundView.
``They tried to print it last week (the deal) and the seller walked away because they weren't getting the price that they liked.''
JDS Uniphase, the world's No. 1 supplier of parts for fiber-optic telecom equipment, could not confirm the buyer or seller. ``If it's a beneficially owned block of stock, that information only shows up when people file form 144s and statements of beneficial ownership,'' said a JDS spokeswoman.
The risk-based transaction was made when the market opened on Tuesday as JDS stock hit the seller's price target of $125 a share, said Tom Ortwein, head of equity capital markets at CIBC in New York. He would not identify the buyer or seller.
JDS shares later dipped 4-1/16 on Nasdaq on Tuesday afternoon to trade at 123-1/4 on a volume of 30.9 million shares. The stock has moved between a 52-week high of 153-6/16 and a low of 18-6/16.
On the Toronto stock exchange, the issue dropped C$5.25 to C$181.25 in light volume.
Furukawa, a Japanese electric wire and cable maker, owned 17.15 percent of JDS's common and exchangeable shares, according to a March 13 beneficial ownership filing. The holding included 8.9 million common shares and 135.8 million exchangeable shares.
Furukawa sold 1.39 million JDS shares after that filling.
``They've been a periodic seller so there's nothing earth-shaking about it...gradually they're peeling off their position,'' said Slocum.
``They haven't really gone out there and constantly dribbled stock on the market, they've showed up every few months with a block to sell, they've sold it and they've gone away.''
CIBC also executed a JDS deal in December 1999 worth $410 million for a split-adjusted 3.64 million shares priced at 112-5/8.
``This group has been one of the most active in the last several months -- the fiber optics, photonics related companies,'' said Ortwein.
``A lot of these stocks have had huge run-ups in prices and have become very liquid in the last couple of months, and so it was a terrific opportunity for institutions to be able to add to positions in an attractive price.''
($1-$1.47 Canadian)
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