AU Optronics Corp (
The company sold 30 million US depositary shares at US$15.35 each, or a 1.9 percent discount to its closing price of US$15.65 on Monday, said Hsiao Yawen (
AU Optronics is trying to buy machinery and equipment to boost its production as competitors including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
The company gave Goldman Sachs Group Inc, the sale's arranger, the right to sell an additional 3 million of the shares depending on demand. Shares of AU Optronics fell 1.4 percent to close at NT$49.30 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Rival Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (
The Tainan-based company is studying factors that may help decide where to build the plant, including the supply of components, spokesman Eddie Chen (
"We're still reviewing the plan," Chen said. The company hasn't picked a site, decided how much to spend on the plant or when to build it, he said, denying a Chinese-language newspaper report today that the company will complete the plan by late this month or early next.
The company's rivals AU Optronics and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd (
Chi Mei has been outsourcing module assembling services from Coretronic Corp (
Separately, LG.Philips LCD Co, the world's largest producer of liquid-crystal displays, is planning a sale of as much as US$2 billion of stock this week, investors say, in what would be third-biggest in Asia outside Japan this year.
LG.Philips, based in Seoul, is selling shares to fund a 20 percent increase in capital spending this year to compete with Samsung Electronics Co and AU Optronics in the US$35 billion industry.
The shares may be priced after trading closes in Seoul tomorrow, said Jung Kyun-sik, a fund manager at Shinhan BNP Paribas Investment Trust Management Co.
Shares of LG.Philips fell as much as 3.7 percent and traded 3.6 percent lower at 44,900 won.
ABN Amro Holding NV, Citigroup Inc, Morgan Stanley, and UBS AG were hired to manage the sale, LG.Philips said.
The proposed sale would be the biggest in Asia outside Japan since Bank of Communications Ltd (
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