China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), Taiwan's fifth-biggest financial services company by market value, said yesterday that it had returned to profit in the third quarter thanks to investment gains.
Net income in the three months to Sept. 30 rose more than fourfold from a year earlier to NT$1.8 billion (US$53 million).
That helped narrow its net loss for the first nine months of the year to NT$12.9 billion.
The third-quarter profit came from "gains in our direct investments and some loan-loss recovery," said Grace Fang (
Returning to profit may help China Development's bid to find a merger partner. The bank, which has about 260 direct and venture capital investments, said last month it expects to be in acquisition talks by the end of the year.
The legislature passed laws in 2001 to encourage mergers and improve competition in its financial industry, allowing holding companies to acquire lenders, brokerages, insurers and money managers.
The nine-month loss narrowed from NT$14.7 billion at end of June, the bank said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The bank on Aug. 1 lowered its pretax forecast for this year to a NT$13.6 billion loss.
China Development, which is 5 percent owned by overseas investors, cut its full-year forecast in August as it announced plans to set aside NT$16.9 billion to write off bad loans.
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