Shinkong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), the nation's eighth-largest financial services provider by assets, is looking to form a strategic partnership with a world-class financial group that has the cross-border experience and know-how to help it expand overseas, company spokesman Victor Hsu (許澎) said in a phone interview yesterday.
"A large number of foreign financial institutions have expressed interest in establishing a cooperation relationship within the past year," Hsu said.
The strategic partnership will be formed through the issuance of up to NT$7 billion (US$215.74 million) in common shares through a private placement within one year, he said.
This would translate into a 5 percent to 7 percent stake in the financial holding firm, based on a tentatively set price of NT$28 per share, he said.
Shinkong Financial has NT$40.7 billion in capitalization.
The board of directors has designated company chairman Eugene Wu (
The company may use the funds for acquisitions, he added.
Last month, Temasek Holdings of Singapore bought a 15 percent stake in E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) for US$400 million, while Newbridge Capital of the US and Nomura Group of Japan jointly invested NT$31 billion in Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) in February.
The board of Shinkong Financial yesterday also decided to distribute dividends of NT$1.3 per share, comprising NT$0.65 in cash and the remainder in stock.
The company reported that first-quarter net profit reached NT$7.14 billion, or NT$1.76 per share, the highest among the nation's 14 financial groups. This, despite the fact that its banking arm incurred a net loss of NT$1 billion after setting aside NT$2 billion in provision expenses to cover consumer bad debts.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
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