Corning announces stock offering to support Lucent deal, makes fiber agreement with Russian cabler
Edited by Mardi Balgochian Scalise, Lightwave Web Editor
Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) announced an offering of 14,222,500 shares of its common stock at a price of $15.88 per share in an underwritten public offering under its existing $5 billion universal shelf registration statement. JPMorgan is acting as the sole underwriter in this offering.
The net proceeds from this offering are expected to be used to finance the previously announced acquisition of Lucent Technologies' controlling equity interests in Lucent Technologies Shanghai Fiber Optic Co., Ltd. and Lucent Technologies Beijing Fiber Optic Cable Co., Ltd.
The stock announcement came the same day as Corning and Russian cabler Saranskkabel Optika announced a three-year supply agreement for Corning optical fiber, including Corning SMF-28 fiber and Corning 50/125 and 62.5/125 multimode fibers. Saranskkabel Optika has been a Corning optical fiber customer since 1998 and the agreement provides Saranskkabel Optika with at least 70 percent of their total fiber supply.
As part of the long-term supply agreement, Saranskkabel will purchase Corning SMF-28 fiber, a standard fiber widely deployed in telephony, cable television and utility network applications. SMF-28 fiber's versatile optical profile and outstanding geometry offer high performance in 1310 and 1550 nm applications and excellent splicing and handling capability. Corning's 50/125 and 62.5/125 fibers, also purchased as part of the agreement, are traditional graded-index multimode fibers used primarily in local area networks.
About Corning:
Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television, information technology and other communications-related industries. For more information, visit www.corning.com.
About Saranskkabel Optika:
Created in March 2000, Saranskkabel Optika is a spin-off company of Joint Stock Company Saranskkabel. Saranskkabel Optika provides single-mode and multimode optical fiber cable to leading Russian networks.