THSRC again promises it will meet fundraising goal

Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵), the company in charge of constructing the nation's first bullet-train railway, promised it will be able to raise NT$6 billion (US$190 million) in fresh funds today, it said in a statement.

THSRC pushed back the fundraising date from the end of last month to Tuesday, but it had only secured NT$5.5 billion by then, leaving it NT$500 million short. The remaining amount will arrive today, the statement said.

THSRC needs to achieve this fundraising target because a consortium of 25 local banks, led by Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行), has frozen further lending that the company needs to continue the high-speed train project, which is estimated to cost NT$460.9 billion.

THSRC signed a contract with the banking consortium in February 2000 for a NT$323.3 billion syndicated loan.

THSRC has received NT$226.9 billion thus far, Arthur Chiang (江金山), THSRC's vice president of public affairs, said earlier this month.

Of the NT$5.5 billion THSRC has managed to raise so far, Fubon Group (富邦集團) has committed to chip in NT$900 million, followed by Evergreen Group (長榮集團) with NT$500 million and Continental Engineering Corp (大陸工程) with NT$400 million.

Fubon, Evergreen and Continental Engineering are among THSRC's five major shareholders. The others are Pacific Electric Wire & Cable (太平洋電線電纜) and Teco Electric & Machinery Co (東元電機).

Last week, China Steel Corp (中鋼) decided to pump in nearly NT$3.2 billion into the railway project, through the purchase of 344.08 million preferred shares of the THSRC at NT$9.30 per share. China Steel has previously invested NT$2.5 billion in the THSRC.

THSRC still has another NT$7.5 billion to collect by issuing preferred shares by the end of next month, and the fundraising process is continuing, the statement said.

The 345km-long railway is scheduled to begin service by the end of October.