By Meg Villeneuve, WaferNews

Under a temporary NASDAQ symbol of “CHRTV”, Singapore foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing launched its initial public offering (IPO) of 250,000,000 shares on October 29, 1999.

As a part of the IPO, 225 million ordinary shares were sold in the form of American Depository Shares (ADSs); the remaining 25 million were sold in the form of ordinary shares in Singapore. Chartered priced the IPO at US$20 per ADS (one ADS represents 10 ordinary shares) and in Singapore US$5.56 (or S$3.34) per ordinary share.

Trading under Chartered&#39s permanent NASDAQ symbol of “CHRT” began on November 1, 1999. All the shares sold by the company will constitute new financing and after the closing of the IPO, Chartered will have a total of 1,238,847,853 ordinary shares outstanding.

Monies from the offering will be used to fund Chartered&#39s capital expenditure requirements in connection with the expansion of the company&#39s manufacturing facilities and for working capital and general corporate purposes.