Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) yesterday claimed a 30-percent share purchase by rival Breeze Center (微風廣場) was invalid and threatened legal action to counter the move.
"This transaction is questionable and we have therefore filed suit in the Taipei District Court for further investigation," said James Huang (黃聖志), chairman of Taiwan Chung-Kuang Co (台灣崇廣), Pacific Sogo's second largest share holder.
Huang said Breeze cannot legally claim or register as a Sogo shareholder before the court reaches a verdict.
The news follows statements by Breeze last Friday claiming it has bought a 30-percent stake in rival Pacific Sogo. Yesterday the company held a press conference to show the media the share certificates they had acquired.
"On Aug. 5 we transferred undisclosed funds into Chung-Kuang's account and successfully received a 6 percent Sogo stake ? the remaining 24 percent is still in Chung-Kuang's position, while we've paid the deposit," said Jason Tsai (
Breeze acquired the shares from Yu Ching-sung (
In response, Sogo called Yu's move "invalid," saying the 24 percent share was already spoken for.
"Our board never authorized Yu to sell Sogo shares ... this was his personal decision and is not at all acceptable [to the company]," Huang said.
He added Chung-Kuang had made an agreement to sell a 24-percent stake to majority Sogo shareholder Pacific Distribution Investment Co (
"In July Pacific Distribution issued a NT$720 million check for the stock buyout [but post-dated the check]," Huang said.
Engaged in a retail battle for months, the new feud over Sogo shares -- and a seat on their board -- has only served to intensify the two companies' war of words.
"If it's possible we would like to buy more than 51 percent of Sogo and then take over management of the company," said Okaichiro (岡一郎), general manager at Breeze, said at a press conference yesterday.
Okaichiro -- formerly a Pacific Sogo employee for 15 years -- was recruited as Breeze's general manager when the company entered the market last year.
"We want to create a level playing field, where vendors have the right to set up booths in any shopping center they want," he said.
In October of last year Sogo asked its vendors to sign a contract promising not to set up shops within 2km of its department store -- a zone which includes Breeze.
As a result, Breeze was unable to attract several major brand name stores to its center, prompting it to file a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission.
In May, the commission concluded in a report that Sogo was unfairly hampering market competition and fined Sogo NT$2.5 million.
"Since we can't compete fairly outside in the marketplace, we decide to go directly to the board," Breeze's Tsai said.
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