Briefs

Amphenol Planning 2-For-1 Stock Split

Wallingford, Conn. — Cable-equipment maker Amphenol Corp. reported a 42% rise in fourth-quarter earnings, citing the strong year and optimism concerning the overall economic recovery as catalysts for a planned 2-for-1 stock split.

Amphenol said the split would occur on March 27 and the additional shares would be distributed on March 29.

In a statement, Amphenol chairman and CEO Martin Loeffler said the split should further improve liquidity and trading in Amphenol stock. Amphenol shares rose on the news, priced at $67.88 each in afternoon trading Jan. 21, up 3% or $1.95 per share.

For the fourth quarter, earnings rose to $32.9 million (74 cents per share) from $22.5 million (52 cents per share) in 2002. Sales rose 28% to $342 million.

Charter ESOP Sets Exchange Option

St. Louis—Charter Communications Inc. announced an employee stock option plan that will allow some workers to exchange existing options for shares of restricted Class A common stock in the company and in some instances, cash. The offer is scheduled to close on Feb. 20.

The exchange offer is being made to all eligible employees, for all vested and unvested options with an exercise price over $10. Charter said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Jan. 20 that 22.9 million shares of Class A common stock are eligible for the exchange, about 48% of Charter's 47. 9 million total options issued and outstanding.

Charter estimates the cost of the options exchange program at approximately $17 million.

AAT in Tower Deal With SignalOne

St. Louis—AAT Communications Corp., a communications-tower company managed by Jerry Kent's Cequel III telecom and cable investment firm, said it has acquired all of the tower assets of SignalOne LLC, a privately held tower provider and site management company in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The purchase — terms of which were not disclosed — followed AAT's recent agreement to acquire up to 97 towers from US Unwired Inc.

Combined, the US Unwired and Signal One transactions – which are expected to close in full or in part by mid-March — will expand the AAT portfolio to approximately 1,800 owned towers and more than 6,000 managed rooftop and tower sites in 48 states.

The assets to be acquired from Signal One – including 226 owned towers and 199 managed sites – are located primarily in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

Widham Named to Head Broadwing

Austin, Texas—Broadwing Communications LLC named Scott Widham as president of its strategic carrier group, which serves voice-, video-, and data-traffic carriers, including regional Bell operating companies and cable operators. Widham will be based in St. Louis.

Widham has more than 25 years experience in the cable and telecom industries, most recently working for C III Communications, an investment group formed by Corvis Corp. and St. Louis-based Cequel III last year to acquire Broadwing from its former parent company. Widham also had been the owner and operator of Capital Cable, an MSO that was sold in the 1990s to Charter Communications Inc.

UGC Rights Plan Would Sell Stock

Denver, Colo.–UnitedGlobalCom Inc. filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission Jan. 12 for a rights offering that would allow current shareholders to purchase up to $1 billion of its Class A, Class B and Class C common stock.

UGC said it expected to receive some $1 billion in proceeds before expenses if all of the rights were exercised. The company said it plans to use 10% of net proceeds to repay outstanding bank debt of its European broadband subsidiary.

Other proceeds will go toward working capital and general corporate purposes.

The broadband-communications provider is majority-owned by Liberty Media Corp.