Tyco to Buy Rest of TyCom Stake

Tyco International Ltd. announced it is buying the 11% of TyCom Ltd. it doesn’t already own in a deal worth about $864million.

Under the agreement, TyCom shares would be converted into 0.3133 of a Tyco share, an increase over the conglomerate’s initial offer earlier this month of 0.2997 for each TyCom share.

Tyco already owns 89% of TyCom’s shares; the remaining stake represents about 56million shares. The deal, which values TyCom shares at $15.42--a premium of 4.5%--is based on Tyco’s closing price Thursday of $49.20.

It also comes one day after TyCom, an undersea fiber-optic cable supplier, laid off 600 workers, representing about half of its work force in New Hampshire.

TyCom, a subsidiary of Tyco, blamed the cuts on a slowdown in the telecommunications industry and the sluggish economy.

Tyco is based in Bermuda but operates from Exeter, N.H. It manufactures electronics, security systems and medical flow controls.

Shares of Tyco fell 48 cents to $48.75 and TyCom rose 34 cents to $15.10, both on the NYSE.