Chinatrust Financial board approves 2.5bln share issue

Price per share of private placement tagged at US$0.51 allows firm to raise US$1.3bln.

Taiwan's Chinatrust Financial Holding Co.'s board re-approved a plan to issue 2.5 billion new shares through a private placement for working capital needs and to expand its business operations, the firm said in a statement.

The price per share of the private placement is temporarily set at NT$16.45 (US$0.51), thereby allowing the firm to raise up to NT$41.13 billion, it said.

Chinatrust has to again approve the plan since the one-year period for private placement will soon expire, the firm said.

It didn't elaborate further in the statement about the target for the private placement but in November it agreed to sell a nearly 10% stake in itself to China Strategic Holdings Ltd. in exchange for a 30% stake in Nan Shan Life Insurance Co., American International Group Inc.'s (AIG) Taiwan unit.

View the full story in the Wall Street Journal.