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Waterland fights off rebellion
FINANCIAL SERVICES:
The company asked for the government to intervene after a group of rebel shareholders began maneuvering to oust the current management
By Amber Chung
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, May 06, 2005, Page 11
| Waterland's major shareholders |
| * Chairman Walter Lin owns an estimated 6 percent stake
* Rebel shareholders include the Miramar Group (5-10 percent stake); Macoto Bank's chairman (2 percent stake); and Kuo Hwa LIfe Insurance (9.8 percent stake)
* State-run banks, including Taiwan Cooperative Bank and ICBC, control around a 13.5 percent stake
* The Nice Group also holds over 10 percent of Waterland's shares |
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Waterland Financial Holdings Co (瓣布北), the nation's smallest financial service provider by assets, yesterday called on the government to act as a mediator as rebel shareholders are seeking to oust the current management ahead of a general meeting next month.
The financial services provider is slated to select a new board of directors and superintendents at a shareholders meeting on June 29.
The current management, led by chairman Walter Lin (狶地紈), is estimated to own a 6 percent stake in the company.
The rebel shareholders include the Miramar Group (腞地), which is said to have a 5 to 10 percent stake in Waterland; Macoto Bank's (港蝗︽) chairman Lin Cheng-yi (狶港), who reportedly owns a 2 percent stake; and Kuo Hua Life Insurance Co (瓣地关), which holds a 9.8 percent stake.
State-run banks, including Taiwan Cooperative Bank (畐蝗︽) and the International Commercial Bank of China (い瓣瓣悔坝蝗), control around 13.5 percent of the financial holding firm.
"We believe our board of directors and management team can help continue the company's bright performance and sustainable development," Waterland Financial president Harvey Liu (糂ü竡) said at a press briefing yesterday.
In a bid to solicit more proxy votes for the current management team, Waterland Financial yesterday revealed its first-quarter earnings. The firm reported after-tax net income of NT$960 million, or NT$0.45 per share, in the January-March quarter, up 29.8 percent from a year ago. For last year, the company reported earnings of NT$3.25 billion, or NT$1.54 per share, with a cash dividend of NT$1.4 per share.
The Chinese-language news media have recently speculated that rebel shareholders may have accumulated up to a 40 percent stake and are likely to support Hung San-hsiung (瑇动), chairman of the Taiwan Financial Asset Services Corp (芖狝そ), to contend for Waterland's chairmanship in the election.
Another player, Nice Group (瑻吹), has held more than 10 percent of the company for over a year, and as a result is qualified to request shareholders proxy votes. Nice, which has been non-committal on the issue, said it expects to control over 25 percent of votes, according to Chinese-language reports.
Liu declined to confirm if Lin has approached Nice for support.
Liu said the company hopes that the state-run banks holding its shares and the Ministry of Finance will be able to make the best management choice for shareholders.
In response, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (狶) declined Waterland's request, saying that the government would not get involved in complicated management struggles in private financial institutions.
"[The ministry] will leave the issue for [Waterland's] state-run bank shareholders to make their own decision," Lin said.
He said the ministry could, however, provide a similar service to that it had provided for private shareholders of Fuhwa Financial Holdings Co (確地北).
Last month, the ministry helped mediate an agreement between the government, Yuanta Group (じ栋刮) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which controls Fuhwa Financial.
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