■ Officials make appeal
Over 100 Taiwanese lawmakers on Friday appealed to the Grand Justices to overrule a government decision to dispose of the state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) shares through an American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) issue. "More than 100 legislators ... support the action, among them five are from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆). They requested the Grand Justices to issue an emergency ruling to halt the Chunghwa Telecom shares disposal plan before a final constitutional decision is made, he said. The Financial Supervisory Commission approved last month a proposal for Chunghwa Telecom to offer up to 1.64 billion existing shares through ADRs. Chunghwa Telecom Workers' Union has fiercely opposed privatizing of the company, which began in 2002, saying it jeopardized employee benefits.
■ Temasek eyes Chang Hwa
Temasek Holdings, Singapore's state-owned investment company, is eyeing a stake in Taiwan's Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行), Dow Jones Newswires reported Friday, citing a source familiar with the situation. Chang Hwa, the nation's sixth largest lender by assets, is offering 1.4 billion new shares, equivalent to a 22 percent stake, worth at least NT$25.17 billion based on the bank's lowest offering price of NT$17.98 a share. Chang Hwa has said it expects to close the deal by next Friday.
■ Tech recruitment planned
Representatives of more than 40 domestic high-tech companies will take part in an annual Cabinet-organized overseas talent search tour set for Sept. 21-Oct. 3 to the US, Canada and Japan, officials said yesterday. The representatives are expected to meet some 1,500 overseas high-tech professionals in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Tokyo. According to a survey released late last year by the Cabinet's Science and Technology Advisory Group, the talent shortage in Taiwan's semiconductor, image display, communications, digital content, bio-technology and IT service industries is estimated at 25,505 people between this year and 2007. The Cabinet organized similar tours in 2003 and last year, which successfully recruited 1,155 people.
■ BenQ tinkers with Siemens
BenQ Corp (明基), the nation's biggest handset maker, may undertake a reorganization of the mobile-phone unit it bought from Siemens AG, Financial Times Deutschland said, citing an internal letter to employees. BenQ may continue to keep the development, purchases and logistic units as separate departments, though two new divisions, one responsible for Asia and the other for Western markets, may be created, the newspaper said. The regional focus should help to adjust costs, quality and product selection according to the individual markets, the newspaper said. BenQ may combine the mobile-phone unit's marketing operations while it is still undecided about the future of the production division, the newspaper reported.
■ Uni-President wants milk firm
Uni-President Group (統ㄧ集團) plans to pay 300 million yuan (US$36 million) for a 15 percent stake in China's second-largest powdered milk producer, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Uni-President will will buy 76.4 million shares in Wondersun Dairy Co (完達山乳業) in Heilongjiang Province through its subsidiaries in China at 3.9243 yuan each, Uni-President said.
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