Chilean retailer Hites raised $43 million on Thursday, selling a near 30 percent stake in the company in an initial public offering that the company said would help expand its businesses.

The deal is the second initial public offering of the year on the local exchange, a sign of growing investor confidence as Chile, the world's top copper producer, gradually pulls out of its first recession in a decade.

The initial public offering was priced at 206 pesos per share. Hites, which has 12 department stores across Chile, offered around 104 million shares.

Chile's crowded retail sector also includes Cencosud CEN.SN, one of Latin America's largest retailers, and its main rival Falabella FAL.SN.

(Reporting by Antonio de la Jara; Editing by Simon Gardner and Gerald E. McCormick)

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