UAL Stock Gains in New Employee Offer : Buyout: The proposal from pilots, flight attendants is reported to range up to $5.65 billion.

UAL Corp.’s battered stock rose today on talk that the employee-led group whose previous bid failed would make a new offer for the parent of United Airlines at a lower price.

Shares of UAL jumped $12 to $180.50, rebounding from steep losses of 41% last week.

The shares fell nearly $116.75 last week after the group led by pilots and senior managers said on Oct. 13 that it could not secure financing for its $6.75-billion bid.

Weekend press reports said financial advisers to the buyout group hammered out a new proposal for delivery to UAL’s board, which is meeting in Chicago today.

Spokesmen for United’s pilots and flight attendants would neither confirm nor deny that a new bid was ready. The flight attendants said last week they would join the pilots in their effort to buy the nation’s second-largest airline.

The reports said the new bid package would present a framework for the buyout, but would not carry any credit commitments to finance the deal. They indicated a price of $200 to $250 a share, or $4.52 billion to $5.65 billion.

The group’s initial bid of $300 a share faltered when banks failed to fund the effort, and died last week when British Airways, which was to supply $750 million for the deal, backed out.

UAL’s board may be hesitant to accept the new, lower bid, industry analysts said. In September it gave its blessing to the labor-management offer.

Others said the bid may only be preliminary, to give the board a chance to respond informally.

“There’s a lot of speculation out there,” said Edward Starkman of PaineWebber Inc.

It appears unlikely that the new bid will bring fresh sources of credit or a major new equity partner, the newspaper reports said.

The Chicago Tribune on Sunday speculated that any new bid would be $200 to $250 a share. A report in Crain’s Chicago Business said the revised bid would be submitted even though financing has not been secured.

A UAL spokesman declined comment.

UAL’s board of directors approved the original buyout plan on Sept. 14, but the buyout group, Airline Acquisition Corp., said on Oct. 13 that outside financing for the deal was not available.

The announcement set off a wave of hectic selling in UAL and other real or rumored takeover stocks that swept the globe. The sell-off did not, however, swell into a much-feared repeat of the 1987 stock market crash.

On Thursday, British Airways said it was withdrawing from the buyout effort. The British carrier was to have received a 15% stake in the airline.

Employees were to receive 75% and senior managers 10% of UAL, under the original proposal.

Analysts said the decision by British Airways might prompt UAL to consider a recapitalization through a share buyback or a special dividend.