WARWICK (Bermuda) - BILLIONAIRE Joseph Lewis disclosed in a regulatory filing that he has increased his stake in hard-hit investment bank Bear Stearns to 9.57 per cent.

Mr Lewis, who made his fortune trading currencies, has been building his stake in Bear Stearns over the past few months. In September, he paid US$860.4 million (S$1.2 billion) for a 7 per cent stake which he then increased to 8.01 per cent earlier this month.

Mr Lewis, a reclusive Englishman who splits his time between homes in Florida and the Bahamas, is Bear Stearns largest shareholder, according to Reuters Data.

Mr Lewis and several investment vehicles he controls paid a total of US$1.19 billion for the stake, the filing on Wednesday said. He paid an average of US$101.07 per share in his latest foray.

Based on Bear's closing share price of US$88.80 on Monday, Mr Lewis' stake is worth about US$985.68 million, leaving him down roughly US$200 million.

Shares have fallen roughly 17 per cent since Mr Lewis first announced he had built a stake in the company in September.

Since the beginning of the year, Bear Stearns shares have plunged more than 45 per cent as the slumping mortgage market hurt the bank's biggest businesses and prompted write-downs on mortgage-related assets. Bear also suffered a hit to its reputation as a savvy bond trader in July when two mortgage hedge funds it managed were forced into bankruptcy.

Mr Lewis' stake exceeds that of Bear Stearns Chairman and Chief Executive James Cayne, who holds about 5.8 per cent of the company's stock, including restricted stock and incentive-plan shares.

Mr Lewis' buying of a larger stake in Bear is the latest significant change in the bank's shareholder base, after China's Citic Securities and Bear forged a deal in October to swap stakes in each other, giving Bear greater access to China's burgeoning stock brokerage business and aiding Citic's global expansion plans. -- REUTERS