Chailease Holding Co (中租控股), the nation’s top leasing services provider, priced its global depositary receipts (GDRs) offering of US$307 million at US$12.28 per unit, or the equivalent of NT$74.24 per share, and the offering was fully subscribed by international investors, the company said.
The deal offered 25 million GDRs, constituting 125 million shares, or 11 percent of the company’s issued equity capital, it said.
“Despite the global market volatility, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, investors remained confident about Chailease’s financial performance, growth potential and asset quality,” the company said in a statement last week.
The deal is the firm’s second GDR offering and its largest equity capital increase after a US$206 million offering in 2012.
The offering price represented a 3.5 percent discount based on the previous 10 trading days. The GDR will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.
The company intends to use the proceeds to improve its operations in Taiwan, China and ASEAN memberns as well as repay bank loans, the statement said.
Chailease has built a strong presence in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and other ASEAN markets in recent years and is a major foreign-owned leasing company in China.
The GDR offering will allow it to take better advantage of business opportunities in those regions and enhance its financial flexibility to support future growth, it said.
It has increased its number of branches in China from 17 to 37 in the past five years to cover major industrial and commercial hubs, it said, while ASEAN nations are its third-largest growth driver.
In the first half of the year, Taiwan, China and Thailand generated 55 percent, 34 percent and 7 percent of profits respectively, it said.
Chailese shares gained 45 percent this year, outpacing the TAIEX’s 16 percent advance, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
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