DiB:
Tuesday December 15, 8:36 pm Eastern Time
General Instrument up on takeover talks
NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Shares of General Instrument Corp. (NYSE:GIC - news), which makes cable television equipment such as set-top boxes, rose about 11 percent on Tuesday on rumors it may be in talks to sell itself or form a joint venture with a larger communications equipment maker, analysts said.
Shares of General Instrument gained $3.44 to $34 on Tuesday, with 2.6 million shares changing hands -- nearly three times its average daily trading volume. The gains reversed losses seen on Monday.
General Instrument could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Horsham, Pa.-based company is rumored to be in talks with several potential suitors, including Philips Electronics NV , Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU - news) and possibly Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) and Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news), analysts said.
The rumors ranged from a possible acquisition of General Instrument to a suitor making an investment in the company, the analyst said.
''There's some talk they may just sell the whole thing,'' said another analyst, who declined to be named. ''There's some names floating around -- like Philips -- that we haven't heard before and that are interesting.''
Analysts said one General Instrument investor, Fortsmann Little & Co., has been eagerly looking to shed its remaining 12.5 percent stake in the company.
Forstmann Little, the private investment company, in September cancelled its planned offering of its shares in General Instrument, citing weak market conditions. Since then, the investment firm has been mulling ways to sell its stake, analysts said.
Cable television giant Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMA - news) owns 12.4 percent of General Instrument and Sony Corp. , which forged an alliance with General Instrument earlier this month, owns about 4.3 percent.
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