Oct 19 (Reuters) - Activist investor Jana Partners has

built a stake in Cooper Companies ( COO ) and plans to push for

strategic alternatives, including a potential deal to combine

its contact-lens unit with rival Bausch + Lomb ( BLCO ), the

Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the WSJ report.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by

Subhranshu Sahu)