Taiwan's UMC ADRs at US$14.35 per share
(UPDATE: Adds quotes, details, background)
TAIPEI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) , the world's second-largest microchip foundry, would offer American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) at US$14.35 per share, a source close to the deal said on Tuesday.
The issue would offer 90 million ADRs, or 450 million common shares, and raise US$1.2915 billion, the source said.
It was oversubscribed with a 15 percent premium over UMC's September 18 closing price of T$78 (US$2.52), said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. The amount of oversubscription was not immediately available.
``It's a very, very difficult market sentiment in Taiwan and the United States,'' the source said, referring to Taiwan's sliding stock market and bearish U.S. technology shares.
``To get a 15 percent premium to the last close is really something outstanding,'' she said.
Trading commences in New York on Tuesday. Investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co is the sole book runner.
Made-to-order chipmaker UMC has said it would use funds raised for expansion -- to buy equipment and finance daily operations as well as help with the company's global expansion.
The company has said it was launching several expansion projects, hoping to boost annual capacity to 2.4 million eight-inch equivalent wafers in 2000, three million in 2001 and four million in 2002 compared with 1.7 million in 1999.
In January, UMC teamed up with top U.S. and German firms to develop advanced chipmaking processes, aiming to outperform rivals with technology instead of capacity.
Together with International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM - news) and Infineon Technologies AG of Germany, UMC planned to develop 0.10-micron and 0.13-micron process technologies for building logic chips.
UMC is the world's second-largest custom chipmaker, or dedicated foundry, behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (NYSE:TSM - news).
UMC has set a 2000 net profit target of about T$30 billion, up 185 percent from 1999 after merging with four subsidiaries. The sales target is about T$88 billion. In 1999, net profit was T$10.498 billion and sales were T$29.147 billion.
UMC announced in June 1999 that it would merge with four of its subsidiaries to streamline operations and boost profits.
By 0306 GMT on Tuesday, UMC shares were down T$2.50 to T$75.50 and the main stock index was off 2.43 percent.
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