QSC shares jump on talk United Internet may buy network

- Shares in German Internet service company QSC jumped more than a fifth on Thursday after Manager Magazin reported bigger peer United Internet was interested in buying its network.

There have been talks at the top management level for some time already but the companies have not reached an agreement on price yet, the magazine reported, citing industry sources.

Shares in QSC shares were up a fifth by 8:00 a.m. EST, giving it a market capitalization of more than 200 million euros ($246 million). The shares, which posted their biggest intra-day gain in more than a decade, were at the top of a 3.2 percent stronger German technology index

Both United Internet and QSC declined to comment.

"While there had been some rumors about United Internet buying QSC as a whole, this new rumor was quite a surprise," said Marcus Silbe, an analyst at Close Brothers Seydler Research.

"QSC noted that the access to a network is crucial for the company. This does, however, not exclude the possibility of selling the network and still using the network in the form of a corporation," the analyst said, sticking to his "hold" recommendation.

United Internet earlier this year agreed to buy the stake of private equity firm KKR in cable group Versatel for 586 million euros.