Former US vice president Dan Quayle is visiting Taiwan as a consultant to Cerberus Capital Management, an investment firm interested in setting up an asset management company locally.
Quayle met Minister of Finance Yen Ching-chang (
"Because Quayle is currently involved ... in an asset management corporation, he took the opportunity to understand regulations [regarding such companies] in our financial institutions merger law," Yen said shortly after an hour-long closed-door meeting.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
According to Yen, Bruno had expressed interest in setting up an asset management company in Taiwan sometime in the near future.
The government is wooing international investment banks to set up asset management companies in joint venture with domestic firms to help clean up the nation's higher number of non-performing loans.
The Financial Institutions Merger Law, which was passed last Friday, is expected to aid the financial sector's restructuring.
Leading banks are seen as interested in coming to Taiwan to set up asset management corporations.
Quayle, however, declined to comment on the exact nature of his visit. The main purpose of this visit, he said, was to "see some friends in Taiwan and to have some good conversations with the president this afternoon."
Quayle met with President Chen Shui-bian (
He also met with the leaders of Shinkong Group yesterday and is expected to meet with the representatives of the Koo's Group and KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Stanley Kao (
Jackson is director of Asian Studies at Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University.
While Quayle is not expected to take up a government post, his influence may grow if George W. Bush wins the final vote tally in Florida. Quayle, 53, served as US vice president under former president George Bush from 1989 to 1992. The Bush-Quayle team lost their re-election bid in 1992 to the current Clinton-Gore administration.
Meanwhile, Quayle declined to make any specific comments on the US election. "I am not here talk about the support of recount, but to learn more about Taiwan," he said.
"I am delighted to be back here by my fourth visit of Taiwan, obviously at a rather historic time when the American presidency was still somewhat in limbo."
Quayle, however, said there is "no crisis" in the system. "We have a president, Bill Clinton, and we'll get on with the nation's business in due course."
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
A man walks past real-estate advertisements outside a house in Taipei yesterday. The central bank yesterday said it plans to establish an “Inflation-at-Risk” gauge as a supplementary tool for observing inflation, as policymakers express wish to communicate more effectively with the public when making inflation forecasts.
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s