TPG raises $182 million from sale of Taishin Financial shares

Private equity firm TPG has sold its entire stake in Taiwanese lender Taishin Financial, raising $181.5 million. The deal was launched after the Taiwanese market closed on Wednesday and was quickly finalised, a source said yesterday.

The company had one strong anchor investor that took up a good portion of the deal, while the rest was distributed to high-quality investors that were a combination of long-only and well-known international funds, the source said. They were mainly Asia-based investors.

TPG sold 492.14 million shares, or 7.8% of the shares outstanding in Taishin, for NT$11 each, which was the bottom of the marketed range between NT$11 and NT$11.5, according to the term sheet. The range represented a discount of 2.1% to 6.4% versus Wednesday’s close of NT$11.75.

TPG first invested in the lender in 2006, and through this transaction has now exited the company. Nomura was the sole bookrunner for the deal.

After the block trade, Tashin’s stock fell 3% on Thursday to finish at NT$11.4, but held above the issue price of NT$11. The stock has gained 8.6% since the start of the year, outperforming a rise of about 4.5 % in the benchmark Taiex index during the same period.

There was a “buyer-generated element” to the deal, the source said, and given the uncertain state of the global markets, the deal took the approach of “you have the appetite, you close the book”, as opposed to keeping the book open all night.

Taishin Financial was established in 2002 through a share swap with Taishin International Bank following the latter’s merger with Taan Bank. Taishin’s main businesses include managing its invested financial institutions.

The latest block sale in Taiwan follows German plastics component maker Balda, which also sold almost its entire remaining stake in TPK Holding through a club-type deal, raising a total of NT$5.8 billion ($194 million). The deal was driven by a reverse enquiry for the seller’s whole position and was launched and priced on Saturday, Hong Kong time (June 30), allowing Balda to recognise the capital gain in the financial year that ended in June.