U.S. investors to complete Taiwan Cosmos investment -paper
TAIPEI, Dec 27 (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund SAC Capital and General Electric Co (GE.N) will complete their investment in Taiwan's Cosmos Bank (2837.TW) by yearend, helping Cosmos to recapitalise after suffering huge losses from a consumer credit crunch, the Economic Daily News reported on Thursday.
SAC Capital and GE have said they will jointly invest US$900 million for a controlling stake in the struggling company. SAC Capital said that it expects Cosmos Bank to turn profitable next year.
The money-losing bank has signed a joint contract with nine of its major debt owners to convert their debt into Cosmos's new shares, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Wednesday.
"The fund-raising will definitely be completed by the end of this year," said a spokesman at Cosmos Bank, but he added that he could not comment for SAC Capital.
SAC, with $1.2 billion in assets under management, is pinning its hopes on a broader sector rebound as Taiwan's banks recover from a consumer credit crunch.
Global lenders including Citigroup (C.N) and private equity funds such as Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] have been looking for value in Taiwan's banking market, the fourth-largest in Asia, as the credit crisis eases and the overcrowded sector consolidates.
On Thursday, shares of Cosmos rose the daily seven percent maximum, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX index which gained 2.21 percent. (US$1=T$32.5) (Reporting by Argin Chang and Sheena Lee, editing by Ken Wills)
