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Loewe shares jump 43 percent on Apple bid talk

US-LOEWE-APPLE-MA:Loewe shares jump 43 percent on Apple bid talk

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Shares in German luxury TV maker Loewe <LOEG.DE> surged on talk of a bid from Apple <AAPL.O>, rumors that first surfaced in May last year.

"Apple supposedly wants to bid 4 euros a share for Loewe," said a trader.

Shares in the maker of high-end home entertainment sets, founded in 1923 in Berlin, rose 33 percent to 3.63 euros ($4.89)by 1440 GMT, having hit 3.93, valuing the company at 53 million euros.

A Loewe spokesman said it was unaware of any offer. An Apple declined spokesman declined to comment.

Web blog AppleInsider reported in May last year, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Apple would bid 87.3 million euros, then a 48 percent premium, for Loewe.

Loewe is axing a fifth of its 1,000 jobs after losses almost tripled to 29 million euros in 2012 and it is trying to strengthen its cooperation with Sharp <6753.T>.

Sharp owns 28 percent of Loewe shares, and Loewe's management owns 13 percent. A further 11 percent are held by LaCie <ELED.PA>, while 49 percent of the company's shares are freely traded, according to Thomson Reuters data.

It would not be the first foray into television for Apple, whose products stream Netflix <NFLX.O>, YouTube and iTunes content.

The company has been long rumored to be working on a television but has so far deflected questions on its existence. Apple hasn not launched a new line of products in almost three years, apart from a smaller version of the iPad.

($1 = 0.7427 euros)

(Reporting by Peter Dinkloh, Hakan Ersen, Harro ten Wolde and Jens Hack; Editing by Louise Ireland)

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