Uni-President plans to raise more than US$595 mln

TAIPEI, April 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan's top food conglomerate, Uni-President Enterprises (1216.TW), plans to raise more than T$18 billion ($595 million) to help fund expansion and repay bank loans, it said on Wednesday.

Uni-President, a sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, plans to raise T$12 billion in a convertible bond sale, it said in a filing to the Taiwan stock exchange.

It also plans to sell 300 million new shares in a rights issue and another 300 million shares via a private placement, it said, without giving details.

The selling prices of the new shares have not been decided, it said.

On Wednesday, shares of Uni-President rose 1.2 percent in Taiwan trading and Uni-President China closed unchanged in Hong Kong. (Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Paul Bolding) (Reuters Messaging: faith.hung.reuters.com@reuters.net; +886 2 2508 0815))