■ Finance
Nomura eyes Taishin stake
Nomura Securities Co may spend NT$4 billion (US$125 million) buying a stake in Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新銀行) in a private placement, the Economic Daily News reported, without saying where it got the information. Nomura Securities' board of directors approved the investment earlier this week, the report newspaper said, without elaborating on the size of the stake. Nomura Securities is owned by Nomura Holdings Inc, Japan's biggest brokerage. Taishin Financial said on Jan. 27 that it would sell NT$27 billion in securities to Newbridge Asia IV, LP in a private placement. The Newbridge Capital LLC fund will buy NT$20 billion in stocks and NT$7 billion in convertible bonds from Taipei-based Taishin Financial, it said.
■ Consumer affairs
Alexander, California fined
Consumer protection officials inspected more fitness centers yesterday following an incident in an Alexander Health Club (亞力山大俱樂部) branch that led to one death and 11 injuries during the Lunar New Year holiday. After an inspection of Alexander's Sinjhuang and Sanchong branches, Taipei County officials fined the Sinjhuang outlet NT$60,000 because of blocked exits. The Sanchung center was required to improve its emergency exit directory and remove objects blocking passages. Both outlets passed tests for carbon monoxide, the officials said. Meanwhile, California Fitness, another fitness chain with five outlets in Taipei City, was also fined NT$120,000 by city government officials. California's branch on Zhongxiao East Road was fined for poor ventilation maintenance and problems with its fire detector control system, as well as blocked passages, one official said.
■ Mobile phones
Nokia market share jumps
Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, enjoyed the largest growth in share of the global handset market last year after the company focused on sales in emerging economies, an industry group said. Nokia's share of the worldwide market rose to 32.6 percent last year from 29.1 percent in 2004, while Motorola Inc shipped 18 percent of the world's handsets compared with 14.7 percent in 2004, researcher ISuppli Corp said yesterday in a report. Rising sales of low-cost models in emerging markets helped Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, the researcher said. Global mobile phone shipments gained 14 percent to 813 million units last year, from 713 million units a year earlier, ISuppli said. Fourth quarter shipments rose to 242 million units from 200 million a year earlier, the researcher said.
■ Securities
Fubon must compensate
Fubon Asset Management Co (富邦投信), which was punished last week over irregularities involving bond funds, is obligated to pay compensation for any losses incurred by fund investors, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday. Investors who traded or redeemed their investments in the affected portfolios after last October can request that the firm cover their losses, commission spokesman Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) told reporters yesterday. Lin declined to disclose the volume of the illegal transactions or the number of investors potentially affected. Fubon Asset Management, the nation's largest securities investment trust firm, was fined NT$3.6 million for trading its mutual funds between May 2004 and October last year.
■ Entertainment
Vivendi buys Universal
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