Mustek Ltd (萬宇科技), the largest supplier of computer products in southern Africa, plans to list on the TAIEX at the end of January. Mustek is only the fourth foreign company to do so.
Mustek will issue 20 million Taiwan Depositary Receipts (TDRs) on the TAIEX at a price of NT$18 each. The total issuance will be worth NT$360 million. TDRs are a means by which foreign companies can list in Taipei.
Singapore's ASE Test Ltd, Eastern Asia Technology Ltd, and Medtecs International Corp were the first three companies registered overseas to issue TDRs in Taiwan.
Mustek will list on the TAIEX under the reference number 9104.
Mustek Executive Director Tony Wang (王宇東) announced the launch in Taipei yesterday.
"We listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1997, but the listing was not so good because the index does not have a good technology weighting," Wang told the Taipei Times.
Almost one in two shares on the Johannesburg index is related to the local mining industry, Wang said, adding that tech companies make up only 0.6 percent of stocks there. "Here in Taiwan there is a very heaving weighting for technology on the stock exchange," Wang said.
The TAIEX is also worth six times its counterpart in South Africa, according to Wang.
"Most companies are double-listed in Johannesburg and Lon-don," he said. "But our ties to Taiwan are very close so we chose to list here."
Mustek's founder, Kan Yu-cheng (
Local investors welcomed the move.
"For a firm like Mustek to be more international, it needs to increase its exposure in the global market," said Brian Lin (林志謙) of Yuanta Core Pacific Securities Co (元大京華證券), underwriter of Mustek's Taiwan listing.
Lin said the TAIEX is an active market, making it easier for Mustek to get investment. He also said that if Mustek wanted to form a strategic alliance with a Taiwanese tech company in the future, it could swap shares directly without having to worry about exchanging currencies between Taiwan and South Africa.
Mustek's sales prospects look good. In the year to June 2002, Mustek took in more than NT$10 billion in sales revenue. HSBC has forecast the company will make up to NT$13 billion this year.
Under its brand name Mecer, Mustek already had a 22-percent share of the computer market in southern Africa last year, according to US-based tech research firm International Data Corp. Mustek beat global brands such as Hew-lett-Packard Co and Dell Computer Corp, which have markets shares of 15 percent and 7.9 percent respectively.
The company is well-placed to take advantage of a government technology initiative. South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki announced a five-year plan to invest NT$85 billion (US$2.45 billion) in technology for the nation's schools.
"Mustek are very smart as they have moved into schools," said Horst Brammer, representative of the Liaison Office of South Africa in Taipei.
Mustek is in good company in South Africa. Between 650 and 680 Taiwanese companies currently have investments in the country.
"The Taiwanese have invested US$1.7 billion in South Africa," Brammer said. "More importantly they are employing over 44,000 South Africans."
This makes Taiwan the largest Asian investor in South Africa, Brammer said. It is also the 10th largest trading partner with South Africa. In 2001 the two nations exchanged US$1.2 billion in trade, Horst said. And 22,000 Taiwanese went there on holiday last year.
RSS