DE Shaw, PAG back Haitong's $1.8 billion offer: IFR

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Pan-Asia private equity firm PAG and asset manager DE Shaw & Co Ltd are among 11 cornerstone investors that pledged to buy almost one-third of the up to $1.8 billion Hong Kong offer by Haitong Securities Co Ltd's <600837.SS>, IFR reported on Monday.

The outcome of Haitong's deal will be closely monitored by investors, bankers and a growing list of companies hoping to raise funds in Asia's top IPO destination.

The share sale would the biggest public offering in Asia Pacific so far in 2012 and the largest in Hong Kong since the $1.9 billion New China Life Insurance Co Ltd <601336.SS> <1336.HK> dual listing in the city and Shanghai in December.

PAG, headed by former TPG Capital dealmaker Weijian Shan, agreed to buy $300 million worth of shares in the deal, said IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the plans.

Haitong is offering 1.229 billion new shares at an indicative range of HK$10.48-HK$11.18, IFR added. At the top end of the range, the deal would be worth HK$13.74 billion ($1.77 billion).

Other cornerstone investors include New York-based DE Shaw, Japan's SBI Holdings <8473.T> and Dah Sing Bank <2356.HK>, committing a combined $580 million.

Cornerstones back many Asian listings, committing to buy large, guaranteed stakes and agreeing to a lock-up period during which they will not sell their shares. Anchor investors have fewer restrictions on when they can sell the stock.

Haitong had scrapped a deal in December to raise up to $1.7 billion citing turmoil in global markets.

At the time the company had $222 million in pledges from two cornerstone investors, private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC and Japan's Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Co, a unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc <8309.T>.

The current offer is set to be launched on Tuesday and priced on Friday, sources said last week.