3rd UPDATE: Philips Sells 17% Stake In Pace For EUR76 Million

Dutch electronics group Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV (PHIA.AE) said Friday it sold its stake in U.K. set-top box maker Pace PLC (PIC.LN) for EUR76 million, or about GBP67 million.

JP Morgan Cazenove was sole bookrunner for Philips in connection with the offering of its 50.7 million Pace shares, which represented 17% of Pace's issued share capital.

A person familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires the shares were placed with both new and existing shareholders at an average price of 135 pence a share. The buyers were predominantly long-only U.K. investors, this person said.

Philips acquired the shares following the sale of its set-top box connectivity business to Paceon April 21, 2008. It said Friday the sale is in line with its strategy to dispose of non-core shareholdings.

Pace has agreed to waive a lockup undertaking given by Philips in relation to the shares, JP Morgan Cazenove said, which was due to expire later this month.

At 0937 GMT, shares in Pace, which makes set-top boxes for customers including British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (BSY), were up 10.5 pence, or 7.5%, at 150.5 pence, outperforming a higher FTSE 250 index, up 0.66%.

British Sky Broadcasting Group is owned by News Corp. (NWS), publisher of this newswire.

Company Web site: www.pace.com

-By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; [e-mail]