BEGHIN-SAY INCREASES CAPITAL TO FINANCE EXPANSION French sugar group Beghin-Say, which is 49.6 pct owned by Italy's Gruppo Ferruzzi, is to raise its capital to 703 mln francs from 527 mln through a three-for-one issue of shares and investment certificates to finance expansion, president Jean-Marc Vernes told analysts. For the first stage Beghin-Say will issue some 2.05 mln new 65 franc shares at 500 francs to increase capital to 660 mln francs. The share currently trades at 734 francs. Then 658,000 new 65 franc investment certificates will be issued at 400 francs, raising capital to 703 mln francs. The capital increase will bring the group around 1.2 billion francs in new funds to finance its expansion plans. These include the possible acquisition of the Corn Products maize starch plant at Haubourdin in northern France, Vernes said. Ferruzzi is one of several groups bidding to buy all of Corn Products' installations in Europe. Apart from the French plant, these include three factories in each of Italy and West Germany, two in Britain and Spain and one in the Netherlands and Denmark. Corn Products has put a 650 mln dlr price tag on the installations, and Beghin-Say estimates that acquisition of the Haubourdin plant would cost between 80 and 100 mln dlrs, Vernes said. If this bid fails, Beghin-Say would consider acquiring and developing two other French plants, either in the maize or wheat starch sector. Beghin-Say is also planning to finance European expansion for its Kaysersberg subsidiary, another major reason for its capital increase. Kaysersberg, which was transformed from a division of Beghin-Say into a fully-fledged chemical subsidiary last year, has been holding talks with other European companies on possible accords, Vernes said. He added the company could be introduced onto the Paris Bourse in the near future.