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Eastern Broadcasting okays bond issue plan

Local cable TV network Eastern Broadcasting Co (東森電視), 40 percent owned by US private equity fund Carlyle Group, said yesterday the board had approved a proposal to raise NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) by issuing corporate bonds this year as part of broader efforts to improve its financial structure.

"The proceeds will be used to repay loans and to inject new operating capital," Eastern Broadcasting said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

The corporate bonds will bear a coupon rate of 4.5 percent and an unspecified maturity date, the statement said.

Kbro Broadcasting is an affiliate of Kbro Co (凱擘), the nation's largest cable TV system operator. Eastern was formally named Eastern Multimedia Co (東森媒體科技).

In August, the broadcaster's shareholders gave the go-ahead to a plan to raise NT$3 billion via a private placement within 12 months in order to repay NT$2.6 billion in outstanding loans.

Local food conglomerate Wan Wan Group (旺旺集團) has signed a letter of intent with Carlyle Group to subscribe to all 30 million new shares, which would make Wan Wan the biggest shareholder of the TV network, with a 40 percent stake, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported yesterday.

Carlyle Group became the broadcaster's biggest shareholder after it bought Eastern Multimedia and 12 of its cable TV affiliates, including Eastern Broadcasting for NT$47.6 billion in June 2006.

After the share sale, Eastern Broadcasting's capital will be boosted to NT$7.4 billion from its current NT$4.4 billion.

Separately, the board of Eastern Broadcasting yesterday also gave the green light to the nomination of Chen Chi-yeh (陳繼業) as acting president to fill the vacancy left by Chang Shu-sen (張樹森).

Chang resigned last month, without giving any reasons.
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