Flat screen prices could be set to drop

However the size of the share sale was cut, and the sum fell short of the $1.95bn maximum it had hoped to raise.

The firm will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Korea Stock Exchange on 23 July.

LG Philips LCD is a 50-50 joint venture between South Korea's LG Electronics and Dutch firm Philips Electronics.

The company is the world's second largest LCD screen maker behind Samsung.

LG Philips' offering - a 10.4 % stake - values the entire company at $9.7bn.

After the shares sale each of the firms' stake will be reduced to 44.8% from 50%.

New factory

The firm is selling 33.6 million shares at $30 (34,500 won) each, the bottom of a $30-36 range, in the second-largest tech stock offering in Asia this year.

It plans to use the cash to build its seventh factory as part of decade-long, $21bn plan to increase production of flat screens.

The upgrade from traditional cathode-ray boxes is expected to be the biggest change in TV technology since the switch to colour from black-and-white.

However there have been recent signs that an increase in production of LCD screens will mean manufacturers have to drop prices.

Market leader Samsung Electronics said this week it expected LCD prices to fall by up to 20% in the second half of 2004 as supplies grow.