Santiago, Chile, 26 November 2008 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of MASISA S.A. (Santiago Stock Exchange: MASISA - News) has agreed to summon an Extraordinary Company Shareholders' Meeting, to be held 16 December 2008, to request its approval for an equity increase of Masisa amounting to USD 100 million by issuing new cash shares.

Grupo Nueva S.A., the controlling shareholder of Masisa, and which currently has a 65.6% total shareholding in the company, has formally informed Masisa of its commitment to subscribe its entire pro rata or pre-emptive right of the mentioned equity increase.

A proposal will be put forward at the meeting that the proceeds of the equity increase be allocated to reducing the company's short-term liabilities.

The board of directors also agreed to empower Masisa's administration to issue and place one or more series of bonds aimed at the domestic market amounting to the equivalent of Unidades de Fomento (UF) 3.5 million.

Enrique Cibie, Masisa's CEO, affirmed that these operations are in line with strengthening Masisa's financial standing to better address future scenarios and take advantage of the business opportunities that might arise.

The proceeds obtained from the placement of the mentioned bonds will be allocated to paying off the company's short-term liabilities.

About Masisa

Masisa is a leading furniture and interior architecture board production and marketing company in Latin America. It owns forest assets in most of the region, thereby guaranteeing the raw material for its board business. Masisa's value proposal is to be a reliable brand, and a company close to all its stakeholders, anticipating market needs by means of product and service innovation, and operating responsibly towards society and the environment.

Masisa has 13 production plants in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico. The plants are all ISO 14,001 and OHSAS 18,001 certified. Masisa is currently building an MDP plant in Montenegro, Brazil, that will have an annual production capacity of 750,000 cubic meters of MDP and an annual melaminating capacity of 300,000 cubic meters. This plant will be the company's largest plant in Latin America, and will mainly supply to the Brazilian market. Masisa has three other divisions that operate in synergy with its core board division: forestry, solid wood, and retail. Masisa is a publicly traded corporation and its shares are traded on the Santiago Stock Exchange. The company had total sales of approximately USD 966 million in 2007.