GROUP ADDS WHITTAKER STOCK.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

A Beverly Hills investment group, increasing its ownership to nearly one-fourth of the Simi Valley-based Whittaker Corp., has purchased 1.97 million shares from electronics giant Raytheon Co.

Canpartners Investments IV LLC purchased the stock Friday for $11.95 a share, which was substantially less than the $25-3/8 it was worth when Raytheon acquired the stock in 1996 as part of the sale of a subsidiary to Whittaker.

The transaction ``bodes well for Whittaker shareholders,'' said Donald Newman, managing director of equity research at New York-based Ladenburg Thalmann.

``Obviously someone putting cash down on the line is a pretty big vote of confidence on Whittaker's management,'' Newman said.

Whittaker makes fluid-control systems and fire-safety systems for aerospace and industrial use, as well as remote-access and data-networking products and systems.

Raytheon, based in Lexington, Mass., acquired the stock when it sold its Xyplex Inc. subsidiary to Whittaker. At the time, the shares were worth $50 million.

Raytheon always had intended to sell the Whittaker stock, said Raytheon spokeswoman Toni Simonetti.

``Our interest in selling just happened to be met with an interest in buying on the part of Canpartners,'' she said. ``So it really is as simple as that.''

Canpartners officials were traveling and could not be reached for comment Monday.

The deal raises Canpartners' stake in the company to about 22 percent, said Whittaker chairman and chief executive officer Joseph Alibrandi.

``They have been a great stockholder - fully supportive - and they stepped up and bought this from Raytheon,'' he said.

Whittaker lost $163.6 million in fiscal 1997, a loss linked mostly to its acquisition of Xyplex for $67.5 million in cash and $50 million in stock. It sold Xyplex earlier this year to MRV Communications Inc. of Chatsworth.