Hong Kong (Bloomberg) -- Peregrine Investments Holdings, one of Asia's largest investment banks outside Japan, said it may sell another 10.5 percent of the company to raise cash as Asian markets slide.

Peregrine, which last month agreed to sell a 24.1-percent stake to a Bermuda-based subsidiary of Zurich Group, Europe's fourth largest insurance company, said it expects to sell another $100 million worth of convertible preference shares within six weeks.

Company chairman Philip Tose said he doesn't plan further layoffs in the wake of the sacking of 275 people worldwide last month, but said the company would take a "slight loss'' in November due to redundancy payouts.

Yesterday the company fulfilled an October pledge and released 10-month earnings figures showing profits remained in the black.

Peregrine's announcements come as investment banks around the world consolidate in the face of plunges in Asian currency, stock and bond markets.

For a small independent securities house like Peregrine, "independence can be maintained provide you have the right capital base,'' Tose said.

"And that's what we're trying to do with these convertible shares, because the downturn in the markets did affect our funding ability.'' Tose said he expects the cuts so far to save about $3 million a month in salaries and equipment costs. Redundancy payments will cost up to $4 million.

The early earnings release, showing unaudited after-tax profits of HK$386.7 million in the first 10 months of the year, will be followed with official profit figures for the year ended November by late January, Tose said.

"December is looking surprisingly strong,'' he added. "It's normally a very quiet month, but it's looking good in terms of revenue.'' Though the company remains profitable in the year to date, it provided a comparison of six-month and 10-month earnings that indicated a loss of HK$236.4 million on a pre-tax basis between July 1 and Oct. 31.

The 10-month, after-tax profits come on turnover of HK$224.3 billion and pre-tax earnings of HK$894.2 million. Earnings per share were HK$0.613.

The largest contributor to the loss in absolute terms was the equity products division.

In the 1996 fiscal year, Peregrine posted turnover of HK$175.5 billion, pre-tax earnings of HK$849.5 million, and after- tax earnings of HK$855.6 million. Earnings per share were HK$1.358.

Peregrine meanwhile said "a number of international and Asian financial institutions'' have requested the chance to buy a stake.

Like Zurich Group, those investors would buy convertible redeemable preference shares - giving them full voting rights and the option to convert to common shares at a later date.

Tose said Peregrine is negotiating with about four possible investors who would buy up to US$25 million of shares each. It may name one as soon as Dec.

15. The would-be buyer is already "very close'' to Peregrine and "a prestigious name, international name,'' Tose said. Selling the US$100 million of shares, on top of the US$200 million already sold to Zurich Group, will boost Peregrine's shareholders' funds to US$1.2 billion.

Peregrine shares are down 57 percent this year, compared with a 29-percent decline in the Hang Seng Midcap 50 Index.