MStar Semiconductor, Inc., a Cayman Islands- registered integrated circuit designer, has obtained approval from the Taiwan Stock Exchange to launch a primary listing on the main board, the exchange said Friday. MStar, capitalized at NT$4.56 billion (US$146 million) , is planning to issue 50.71 million new shares at NT$201 each to raise NT$10.19 billion from the listing as operating capital for future expansion, according to the company's prospectus. MStar products are used largely in consumer electronics products, in particular LCD TVs and LCD displays for computers. The company said it expects the fund raising will be completed by the end of the second quarter in 2011. Capital Securities has been appointed as the underwriter for the sale. MStar, set up in Taiwan in June 2002, moved its headquarters to and registered in the Cayman Islands in 2007 to expand globally, according to the prospectus. The company has kept its operations in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan, while most of its products are sold outside Taiwan. In 2009, Asia, excluding Taiwan, accounted for 83.45 percent of the company's total sales of NT$27.71 billion. Taiwan contributed 10.19 percent, Europe made up 6.30 percent and the Americas represented 0.06 percent. Last year, MStar posted NT$3.63 billion in net profit, up 45.8 percent from a year earlier. Integrated Memory Logic, a U.S.-based IC designer, is the only foreign company that has launched a primary listing on Taiwan's main board since May, while seven other companies have been approved by the stock exchange and are preparing for their listings. 