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Cash-advance card debt up
As of June, more than 3.3 million cash-advance cards were circulating nationwide, with total outstanding loans amounting to NT$127.7 billion, the Bureau of Monetary Affairs reported yesterday.

That figure compared to 2.41 million cash-advance cards in circulation as of March, with total outstanding loans of NT$91.5 billion, according to the bureau.

The cash-advance cards allow cardholders to borrow small amounts of money at annual interest rates of up to a 18.25 percent, in addition to handling fees.

Since cardholders don't have to provide collateral or guarantees, nor pay application fees or annual fees when applying for the card, the overdue loan ratio on cash-advance card reached to 1.75 percent as of June, the bureau's Director-General Gary Tseng (曾國烈) said.

TSMC hires Merrill for sale
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufac-turing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said it hired Merrill Lynch & Co to help sell as much as US$1.14 billion of its shares held by Royal Philips Electronics NV.

The chipmaker applied to the securities regulator for the overseas sale of as many as 500 million of its shares as American depositary receipts, spokesman Tzeng Jinnhaw (曾晉皓) said in a phone interview, without mentioning a date.

Philips is trying to save 1 billion euros (US$1.2 billion) by next year after it posted losses of 5.68 billion euros in the last two years. The sale will cut its stake in TSMC to 19.1 percent from 21.5 percent, Philips earlier said.

Shin Kong buying land for hotel
Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), the nation's second-largest life insurer, said it will spend NT$3.69 billion (US$109 million) to buy a plot of land in an eastern business district of Taipei to build a 500-room luxury hotel.

Shin Kong Life, the sole bidder in Monday's land auction, won with an offer that was about NT$700 million more than the government's floor price, the company said in a statement.

The plot is located in the eastern Hsinyi district, near the Taipei World Trade Center, Taipei International Convention Center and Taipei 101.

The new hotel will compete with the Grand Hyatt Taipei, the only other luxury accommodation in the district, according to Shin Kong's statement.

Shin Kong expects annual return to be about 5 percent on the hotel, which will include a commercial development.

That's more than the 1 percent interest the Taipei-based insurer receives on its NT$40 billion of bank deposits, the company said. The payment on the land can be split over five years.

The company plans to invest an additional NT$3.5 billion for the hotel and land development.

With the purchase, Shin Kong is expected to become the biggest landlord in the eastern Hsinyi district, with 11,694 ping of land, or 5.85 percent of the area.

Corning to build glass plant
Corning Inc, the world's biggest maker of glass for liquid-crystal displays, plans to spend US$180 million to build its second plant in Taiwan, the Central News Agency reported.

The plant, slated to start production in the first quarter of 2006, will meet the nation's growing demand for glass used in flat panels, the state-run agency reported, citing Nitin Kulkarni, Corning Taiwan's president.

Corning's first glass factory in Taiwan was started in 2001, the report said.

NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, dropping NT$0.085 to close at NT$34 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.

Turnover was US$665 million.

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