Merger fever finally reached San Diego, according...

Merger fever finally reached San Diego, according to Irving Katz, director of research at San Diego Securities, as ISSCO, which has been trading near its yearly low of 7 5/8 for weeks, received a tender offer from Computer Associates for $12.37 per share.

ISSCO, with a yearlong earnings slide, closed Monday at 11 3/4 bid, up from 9 on Friday.

Cipher Data Products--which announced a new family of quarter-inch cartridge tape drive products and an agreement with North Atlantic Industries for manufacturing rights to its quarter-inch streaming tape drives--rose 1 1/2 to 11 3/8.

The Henley Group rose 1 1/8 on speculation that the La Jolla company would make an acquisition. Most mentioned target: General Telephone & Electronics (GTE), Katz said.

SDG&E;, whose shareholders must absorb $69.1 million of its $902 million investment in San Onofre Units 2 and 3, closed the week unchanged.

GTI, which announced liquidation plans in June, finally made some moves in that direction, with agreement to sell its computer graphics division to Rediffusion Simulation Inc. of Texas for about $1.3 million. The stock rose one-eighth to 2 5/8.

PSA, which is trying to acquire all outstanding shares of Statex Petroleum (it already owns 68%), rose three-quarters.