Foreign investors have approached state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL,
"Many foreign firms have made inquiries about investment after we announced our privatization plan," said Morgan Hwang (
TTL, a 56 year-old company with NT$35 billion in working capital, was spun off from the Taiwan Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Bureau (台灣省菸酒公賣局) last July, and is set to complete privatization by the end of next year. By that time, over 50 percent of its shares will be released to private investors, at a price of about NT$20 each.
"Prospective firms that can ensure job opportunities for the more than 7,000 employees in the company, while increasing competitiveness and feeding into related local industries will be taken into consideration first," Hwang said.
While Hwang did not reveal any of the companies that have expressed an interest in pumping cash into TTL, one Belgian beer brewer said that it and all major brand names in the market would jump at the chance of getting involved in TTL's privatization project.
"Taiwan's beer market is lucrative," said Vincent Wang (王得進), the marketing and sales coordinator for Beck's Beer, a brand of Belgian beer giant Interbrew. "Foreign firms including us are interested in getting a slice of TTL's annual billion-dollar profits through investing in the company."
Last year, TTL reported NT$62.8 billion in revenue, a decline of 15 percent from the previous year due increased competition after the local liquor market was liberalized. Its share of the beer market also dropped from 82 percent in 2001 to 74 percent last year.
The 8-percent drop was grabbed by China's Tsingtao Beer (
"TTL's beer sales have already bounced back and swept over the market this summer, demonstrating the strength of the company and its products," Wang said.
Tsingtao Beer may be still a formidable rival for the indigenous Taiwan Beer, but after the government banned Tsingtao's TV commercials in February in retaliation for China's ban on Taiwan Beer's ads, its sales have been declining.
TTL's Hwang was also upbeat about this summer's sales results to date, saying the company has recently taken back 4 percent in market share with its new Gold Medal Taiwan Beer (金牌台灣啤酒) release.
"The demand for new products almost exceeds supply so we are considering dropping the commercials and going back to the promotion of Taiwan Beer," Hwang said. "I believe our revenues for this year will reach NT$69 billion."
One analyst is looking forward to seeing foreign investment in the new privatized TTL.
"In addition to advancing competitiveness, foreign companies will be a great help in promoting TTL's products in the international community," said Chou Tien-chen (
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS