SpecTran Sells Interest in General Photonics

The merger shuffle in the photonics industry continues, as SpecTran Corp. (Sturbridge, MA) sells its interest in General Photonics to newly spawned BICCGeneral (Highland Heights, KY) for $2.4 million. As part of the transaction, General Photonics repaid to SpecTran a $325,000 loan BICC General Cable purchased approximately 30000 km of optical fiber from SpecTran's Communication Fiber Technologies subsidiary.

In 1996, SpecTran formed General Photonics as part of a joint venture with General Cable Corp. With the recent creation of BICCGeneral by BICC Energy Cables and General Cable, the management of General Photonics was at issue. By purchasing SpecTran's interest in the venture, BICCGeneral can fold the venture's operations in with its existing holdings.

General Photonics will be combined with the BICC fiber optic cable business. The company's product line will now be marketed and sold with BICCGeneral's line of data communications products; the General Cable brand name will be adopted for the former General Photonics product line.