Sonaecom, Zon jump on merger synergy noise

* Sonaecom share up 6.6 percent, Zon 6.4 percent

* Sonae CEO had speculated on merger in Reuters interview

* Analysts say merger would generate huge synergies

LISBON, May 22 (Reuters) - Shares in Portugal's telecoms firm Sonaecom (SNC.LS) and Zon Multimedia (ZON.LS) rose on Friday as renewed talk of a merger between the two prompted estimates of hundreds of millions of euros of potential synergy gains.

The shares extended Thursday's upturn, which came after Paulo Azevedo, CEO of Sonaecom's parent company Sonae, told Reuters he saw growing interest in a merger from Zon shareholders [nLL974787].

Sonaecom rose 6.6 percent to 2.089 euros in early afternoon trading on Friday, Zon soared 6.4 percent to 4.223 euros and Sonae holding (YSO.LS) was up 2.4 to 0.727 euros. The broader market was 1.1 percent higher.

"In our view, there is a notable industrial logic (in a proposed merger) ... Synergies could be notable and easy to capture," said UBS analyst Bosco Ojeda.

He would expect Zon and Sonaecom, who compete fiercely for broadband clients, to share network and operating costs.

"The net present value of the deal could conservatively be estimated at 1 billion euros, or 48 percent of the combined market cap of both groups."

BPI analyst Ricardo Seara put the net value of a deal at 650 million to 700 million euros, adding that joining forces would be "positive for both parties involved, although the sharing of benefits would depend on swap ratios in the possible merger."

(Reporting by Elisabete Tavares, writing by Andrei Khalip; editing by John Stonestreet)

((andrei.khalip@thomsonreuters.com; (351) 213-509-209; RM: andrei.khalip.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: SONAECOM/ZON

(C) Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nLM302652