China's Guotai Junan plans $255 million share sale for working capital

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Guotai Junan International Holdings Ltd said on Wednesday it planned to issue HK$1.995 billion ($255.2 million)worth of new shares to its major shareholder, Guotai Junan Holdings Ltd, raising general working capital.

The Chinese brokerage said its major shareholder would buy 700 million new shares at HK$2.85 apiece from the company after it completed the sale of the same amount of existing shares at the same price to third party investors.

The issue price represented a 7.77 percent discount to the previous close. The major shareholder's stake in the company will be reduced to 58.74 percent after the deal, from 64.61 percent.

Trading in the company shares, which were put on hold on Wednesday, will resume on Thursday. Its subsidiary, Guotai Junan Securities (Hong Kong) Ltd, is the sole placing agent.

($1 = HK$7.8)

(Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Nick Macfie)