By Marc Daniel and Martine Pauwels
PARIS--U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) said Wednesday
it has sweetened its offer for a stake in French technology and
media services firm Technicolor SA (TCH.PA).
Speaking at Technicolor's annual shareholders meeting, David
Welsh, a representative for the bank, said it had raised its offer
to 1.9 euros per share ($2.4) from EUR1.6 per share. If accepted,
its stake would rise to 25-30% from 1% currently.
San Francisco-based private equity firm Vector Capital placed a
rival bid in late May at EUR2 per share.
The proceeds of the stake sale would be used to pay down the
French company's roughly EUR1 billion in net debt. The rest would
be used to help re-orient the company away from its money-losing TV
set-top box business and toward other businesses, like digital
media services, where the company holds a slew of patents.
Shareholders are expected to vote on the two offers later
Wednesday.
-Write to Marc Daniel at marc.daniel@dowjones.com