Hon Hai to help shareholders sell stakes

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the nation's biggest electronics company by sales, may help shareholders sell US$200 million of shares in the form of overseas depositary receipts, according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange filing.

Hon Hai may not go ahead with the plan if shareholders propose to sell shares worth a total of less than US$200 million, based on their market value, the company statement said.

"There will be no new shares," Hon Hai Spokesman Edmund Ding (丁祁安) said in Taipei. Details such as timing and sale amount aren't available, he said.

Participating shareholders must have owned at least a 0.5 percent stake, or 16.2 million shares, for the past two years, or a minimum stake of 0.1 percent for the past five years, Hon Hai said. To take part, shareholders must apply by Sept. 22.

Hon Hai had a better-than-expected 41 percent gain in second-quarter profit to NT$7.6 billion (US$222 million), the company reported late last month.

The company's chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), 53, last month created a trust fund worth about NT$9.5 billion using 80 million of his shares, so that dividends can be used for employee bonuses while avoiding share dilution caused by such bonus distribution.

The company decided to end profit-sharing this year for its non-executive directors and will reduce distribution of stock bonuses for other workers, according to Ding.