(Reuters) -Switzerland’s U-Blox Holding, a maker of microchips and software for car navigation, said on Friday that it was in talks with Advent International about being taken over by the private equity firm.

“Whether a transaction will materialize is open at this stage,” the company said in a statement.

Bloomberg earlier reported on the talks over an acquisition deal that could value U-Blox at more than 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.24 billion).

The shares were up 19% at 1422 GMT at a three-year high, for a total market value of about 1 billion Swiss francs

The Swiss technology group, which went public in 2007, said last week it cut its first-half loss before interest and tax to 7.7 million francs from a loss of 28 million a year earlier.

It cited cost cuts and higher revenues that jump

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