Jds Fitel Inc

San Jose-based Uniphase Corp. and Canada's JDS Fitel Inc. agreed to merge in a $3.2-billion stock swap, creating the biggest maker of parts for the fiber-optic equipment used in phone networks. Uniphase will pay 0.50855 share for each of JDS' 78.1 million shares, giving each company a 50% stake in JDS Uniphase.

San Jose-based Uniphase Corp. and Canada's JDS Fitel Inc. agreed to merge in a $3.2-billion stock swap, creating the biggest maker of parts for the fiber-optic equipment used in phone networks. Uniphase will pay 0.50855 share for each of JDS' 78.1 million shares, giving each company a 50% stake in JDS Uniphase.

JDS Uniphase Corp. has agreed to buy Epitaxx Inc. for $400 million in stock, as the No. 1 maker of fiber-optic equipment parts aims to supply more of the components used in phone and cable-TV networks. Epitaxx, based in Trenton, N.J., makes products that detect and receive laser pulses that carry information on glass fibers. JDS Uniphase supplies the lasers to equipment makers such as Lucent Technologies Inc. and Nortel Networks Corp.

JDS Uniphase Corp., the world's No. 1 maker of fiber-optic equipment parts, agreed to buy rival E-Tek Dynamics Inc. for $15 billion in stock to alleviate shortages in capacity and make new products faster. JDS Uniphase would exchange 1.1 shares of its stock for each share of E-Tek. That values E-Tek stock at $211.40 a share, 56% more than its closing price Friday. Both companies are based in San Jose.

JDS Uniphase Corp. Chief Executive and Chairman Kevin Kalkhoven, a key architect in building the world's No. 1 supplier of parts for fiber-optic telecom equipment, said Thursday he has retired to pursue a slower pace. The company named Jozef Straus, president and chief operating officer, to succeed Kalkhoven, who said he would advise Straus on a part-time basis until the close of fiscal 2001. "I'm a little bit burned out," Kalkhoven, 55, said in an interview.