Chiao Tung's bad loans bought
Deutsche Bank AG and a venture between Merrill Lynch & Co and Salomon Smith Barney bought a combined NT$17.8 billion (US$512 million) of bad loans from Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行). Deutsche Bank bought loans with a face value of NT$8.5 billion, while the Merrill Lynch & Salomon Smith Barney consortium team bought NT$9.3 billion of loans, said CTB Financial Holding Co (交銀金控), the parent of the bank. CTB Financial Holding didn't disclose the price it secured for the loans in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The government is pushing for a cleanup of an industry that's trying to reduce NT$1.53 trillion of loans that were non-performing or in danger of default as of June.
Delta forecasts orders boost
Delta Electronics Inc (台達電子) may double second-half sales of voltage converters for video-game consoles on increased orders from Sony Corp and other rivals, a Chinese-language newspaper said, citing unidentified Delta officials. About 10 percent of sales at the world's No. 1 maker of voltage-conversion equipment for computers will come from video-game consoles such as Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo Co's GameCube and Microsoft Corp's Xbox, giving Delta a 50 percent share of the market, the report said. Delta started supplying to Sony and Microsoft in the third quarter. The company will more than triple monthly production for Sony to 1.2 million units in the second half and double monthly output for Microsoft to 500,000 units, the report said.
EVA Air raises profit forecast
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) raised its 2002 pretax profit forecast by 37 percent after its cargo transportation business did better than it expected. Shares of the airline surged as much as 6.7 percent. EVA forecasts a pretax profit of NT$1.41 billion (US$40 million), compared with its April forecast of NT$1 billion. Sales for the year are expected to rise to NT$62.8 billion, compared with the previous estimate of NT$58.8 billion, it said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. EVA Air returned to profit in the first half of the year, posting net income of NT$765 million, after expanding routes to Japan in April. In July, the company more than doubled its flights to Hong Kong after a new air services agreement was reached. "It's good news, but the raised forecast is factoring in the effect of the Hong Kong flights rather than an indication an overall improvement in the market," said Chou Lei, who manages NT$2.6 billion at Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust Enterprise (保德信元富投信).
AU Optronics mulls price cut
AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), the nation's largest TFT-LCD maker, may cut prices by up to US$15 a unit in October, a Chinese-language newspaper said yesterday, citing an unnamed AU official. The official said the price for a 15-inch TFT-LCD panel is expected to fall below US$200 and the 17-inch panel may drop to US$300, citing weaker-than-expected demand. Prices for the 15-inch panels have been falling over 20 percent over the last three months, the official added.
NT dollar falls
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday fell against its US counterpart, shedding NT$0.050 to close at NT$34.781 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. The unit dropped to its weakest in almost five months after central bank officials said they are inclined toward a weaker currency, traders said. Yesterday's turnover totalled US$532.5 million, up from the previous day's US$479 million.
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