UPDATE 1-Taiwan's BenQ selling digital camera unit to Ability
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TAIPEI, May 18 (Reuters) - Taiwan's BenQ (2352.TW), which has struggled under the weight of a loss-making cellphone unit, said on Friday it is selling its digital camera-making business to Ability Enterprise (2374.TW), as it sheds assets to raise cash.
BenQ did not give a price for the sale of the unit, which includes both product development and manufacturing facilities.
But it said Ability, a Taiwan-based digital camera maker, would pay for the assets based on their book value on June 30.
One analyst said digital cameras accounted for only a small part of BenQ's sales, with the bulk coming from LCD monitors and TVs, projectors and disc drives.
BenQ said about 70 employees, most of them involved in research and development, would join Ability starting on June 1.
BenQ will continue to sell digital cameras under its own brand name after the sale.
"Digital camera is one of our most important and profitable lines," Sheaffer Lee, president of BenQ Corp., said in a statement.
"Ability will remain as one of our most important strategic suppliers for future BenQ branded digital cameras."
The sale is the latest of an asset by BenQ, which is raising cash as it tries to return to profitability by the end of the year after posting losses in the last six quarters.
In April, the company raised US$137.2 million from the sale of 100 million shares of AU Optronics (2409.TW). It is also trying to sell two buildings, hoping to raise US$120 million from the sale.
The announcement came after the main TAIEX index closed 0.05 percent lower on Friday. BenQ's shares ended flat at T$12.15, while Ability's stock fell 1.56 percent to T$44.20.
((Reporting by Doug Young and Baker Li; Reuters Messaging: doug.young.reuters.com@reuters.net; +886 2500-4881)) Keywords: BENQ/CAMERAS
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