Taiwan's China Development Industrial Bank raises Qisda stake

TAIPEI, April 1 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Qisda Corp (2352.TW), formerly known as BenQ, said China Development Industrial Bank will pay $99 million to increase its stake in the firm, making the bank Qisda's second biggest shareholder after AU (2409.TW).

In a private placement, China Development Industrial Bank, a unit under China Development Financial Holding (2883.TW), will buy T$3 billion ($99 million) worth of Qisda shares at T$22.11 per share, boosting its stake in Qisda to 7.69 percent, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The price represents a 15 percent discount to Qisda's share price of T$25.95 on Tuesday, according to Reuters calculations.

"This private placement facilitates further reduction of Qisda's debt ratio, improves our financial structure and better positions the company for future expansion," Qisda Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Wang said in the statement.

LCD maker AU Optronics (AUO.N) said late on Monday that it would buy T$2 billion worth of Qisda shares in the same private placement, increasing its stake in Qisda to 9.58 percent from 5.12 percent, to become Qisda's largest institutional shareholder. (Click for story [ID:nTP29871])

At 0347 GMT, shares of Qisda had risen 1.4 percent, China Development Financial Holding had lost 0.7 percent and AU Optronics had gained 1.5 percent. The benchmark TAIEX .TWII index was down 0.2 percent.

Qisda, which struggled under the weight of the money-losing mobile phone business it acquired from Siemens (SIEGn.DE) in late 2005, had indicated at an investor conference this month that it did not rule out raising new capital. (US$1=T$30.3) (Reporting by Sheena Lee; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)