Inmarsat shares jump on takeover speculation, satellite strength

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in British satellite firm Inmarsat (Other OTC: IMASF - news) surged on Friday to a three-month high, with traders pointing to takeover speculation on the Financial Times' Alphaville blog. https://ftalphaville.ft.com/marketslive/2018-06-08

Inmarsat was trading up 9 percent by 1355 GMT, top of Europe's STOXX 600 and Britain's FTSE 250, having risen as much as 11 percent in volatile mid-afternoon trading.

"It is a target," said one trader.

"I think it's general satellite strength, but it's certainly got people speaking," said another trader.

An Inmarsat spokesman declined to comment on speculation.

Satellite stocks across Europe had been gaining throughout the day after SES won authorisation from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to expand its O3b satellite fleet and got an upgrade to "buy" from UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) analysts.

SES shares gained 4.9 percent and Eutelsat (Paris: FR0010221234 - news) , which UBS also upgraded to "buy", rose 3.7 percent.

(Reporting by Helen Reid, additional reporting by Paul Sandle, Editing by Alasdair Pal)