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Mega Financial eyeing broker, insurer

Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the nation's second-largest financial service company, yesterday said that it is interested in acquiring President Securities Corp (統一證券) and Allianz President Life Insurance Co (統一安聯產險).

"Mega Financial has done studies and concluded that both companies will be worthwhile investments," Mega Financial chairman Cheng Shen-chih (鄭深池) told reporters yesterday morning.

Cheng, however, added that no merger deals will be inked in the near future, since the financial service company has just entered the initial bidding process and has not yet been qualified as one of the companies' many bidders.

President Securities is a Taipei-based brokerage controlled by the nation's largest food company, Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業), while Allianz President Life Insurance is a joint insurance venture co-owned by Uni-President and Allianz AG, Europe's largest insurer.

Mega Financial will propose an acquisition plan as soon as it qualifies to place bids, but "prices will remain the key to whether the deals will be closed," Cheng said.

The chairman said that Mega Financial's ambitions do not necessarily stretch as far as snapping up both companies at once.

"[We're interested in] buying either one of the two companies, which will also be an acceptable result," he said.

Despite Mega Financial's repeated interest in buying Allianz President Life Insurance, the insurer's public relations department yesterday denied that it has any plan to organize an auction and seek buyers.

Mega Financial had an unaudited January-September profit of NT$14.4 billion (US$425 million), or NT$1.47 a share, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Mega had an audited net income of NT$12.4 billion in the same period last year. In April, Mega forecast that its full-year profit may reach NT$21.9 billion, or NT$2.20 a share.

Mega Financial shares yesterday rose NT$0.1 to close at NT$22.6 per share, while shares of President Securities rose NT$0.5 to close at NT$17.6 per share.

Cheng yesterday also discussed the planned mergers of Mega Financial's subsidiary banks Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行) and the International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀).

The merger could be carried out as soon as July next year, he said.

The International Commercial Bank of China was included in the holding company last year, and Cheng promised not to adjust the bank's structure within three years. As the deadline for the merger is the end of next year, Cheng said a committee will be established before July to discuss the integration of business and personnel at the banks.

After the merger, Mega Financial's market share in the banking sector is estimated to reach nearly 10 percent, which will help to enhance the holding company's competitiveness, he said.
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