Taishin scraps share sale, approves private placement

Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控), the nation's second-biggest credit-card issuer, has scrapped a planned US$160 million overseas share sale and will raise as much as NT$35 billion (US$1.05 billion) in a private placement of stock.

The company is withdrawing its application to regulators for the overseas sale because it would not be able to complete it before the end of the year as planned, Taipei-based Taishin said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange today.

In a separate statement, Taishin said its board approved a plan announced on Dec. 2 to offer about 1.75 billion common and preferred shares at NT$20 each in a private placement.

"We're inclined to bring in foreign investors in the private placement," Carol Lai (賴昭吟), Taishin's Chief Financial Officer, said in a phone interview in Taipei today.

"We've contacted some potential overseas strategic partners," she said, without naming any company.