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Belden shares jump on PPC announcementDec 11, 2012 (St. Louis Post-Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Updated at 5 p.m. with details, closing share price. Shares of Belden Inc. rose 6.5 percent Tuesday after the Clayton-based maker of cable, connectivity and networking products announced it bought PPC for $515.7 million. The acquisition of PPC, based in Syracuse, N.Y., expands Belden's line of broadband products. PPC makes broadband connectivity products for cable television, telecommunications and Internet service customers. The privately held company, with 774 employees, is expected to post $238 million in revenue in 2012. "PPC provides innovative products that enable our customers to profitably grow their business by delivering higher bandwidth and enhanced services, with fewer service calls," John Stroup, Belden's chief executive, said in a statement. A Belden spokesman said the company has formed an integration team to merge operations. Belden said it expects its 2012 revenue to reach between $1.94 billion and $1.95 billion. About 40 people in Clayton are among Belden's 7,400 employees worldwide. The company has been a buyer and a seller this year. Last month, Belden reached agreement to sell its Thermax and Raydex businesses to Charlotte, N.C.-based Carlisle Cos. for $265 million. After the Thermax-Raydex sale, analyst Shawn Harrison of Longbow Research wrote that the deal added to Belden's "significant dry powder" and provided the company with money to make additional purchases in the networking and connectivity markets. In June, Belden announced its acquisition of Miranda Technologies Inc., of Montreal, a provider of hardware and software for the broadcast infrastructure industry. Belden's takeover offer represented about 370 million Canadian dollars, or about $360 million in U.S. currency, according to Bloomberg. Shares of Belden closed Tuesday at $42.27, up $2.57. ___ (c)2012 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |