Taiwan's Qisda near $164 mln private equity stake sale
TAIPEI, March 29 (Reuters) - Qisda Corp (2352.TW), the company formerly known as BenQ, is preparing to sell a stake in itself to a private equity investor for about T$5 billion ($164 million), a spokeswoman said on Saturday.
The deal is close to being done, said spokeswoman Colleen Ho, although she did not provide the name of the investor or give a more specific timeframe.
Under terms being discussed, the investor will buy 226 million Qisda shares for T$22.11 each representing a 8.8 percent discount to its Friday closing price of T$24.25, the Chinese language Commercial Times reported, without citing sources.
Market capitalisation of Qisda, a maker of consumer electronics, now stands at about T$37.3 billion, meaning the investment would represent about 13 percent of the company, according to Reuters calculations.
Separately, an investment banking source told Reuters that a team from U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group (BX.N) was in Taiwan this week performing advanced due diligence on a local tech company. He declined to name the company.
Blackstone could not be reached for comment.
Local media have also speculated that the buyer could be a private equity arm of AU Optronics (2409.TW), currently Qisda's biggest outside shareholder with a 5.12 stake, according to Reuters Research.
According to the Commercial Times report, Qisda's board met on Friday and approved the sale.
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 earlier this month that it did not rule out raising capital.
The company has indicated it would use the money to strengthen its finances.
Taiwan has become a hot market for private equity in the last two years, with tech and media companies and banks pulling in the lion's share of interest as foreign investors look for value.
Foreign private equity firms that have done deals in the market include Carlyle [CYL.UL], Newbridge [NB.UL], Kohlberg Kravis Roberts [KKR.UL], MBK Partners and Longreach Group. (Reporting by Doug Young and Sheena Lee, Editing by Louise Heavens) ((doug.young@reuters.com; +886 2 2500-4881; Reuters messaging: doug.young.reuters.com@reuters.net))
