US smartphone-maker Palm is to remarket approximately 18.5 million common shares to fund the launch of its much-anticipated new Pre device later this year. The shares relate to 49 percent of the stock acquired in the firm by private-equity group Elevation Partners in January 2009. Elevation will recoup the US$49 million it originally paid for the units, and is expected to use the funds to purchase shares of Palm’s common stock in the offering at the public offering price. According to press reports, the sale of all 18.5 million shares would equal roughly US$113.8 million, or more than double their original value. Upon the closing of the offering, Palm said in a statement that it expects to receive net proceeds of approximately US$83.9 million.

The Palm Pre was unveiled in January and will be the first Palm device to run on its new mobile operating system, ‘webOS.’ The device is deemed crucial to the future success of the company, which continues to lose market share to smartphone rivals such as Apple and Research In Motion (RIM). It is expected to launch in the first half of this year and will be offered in the US exclusively by Sprint Nextel, while Vodafone UK is also rumoured to be launching the device. The company has reported a loss for six straight quarters and last week announced that it expects to report revenues in its fiscal third-quarter of between US$85 million and US$90 million, a huge shortfall on analyst expectations of around US$155 million.