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■ New cinemas on the way
Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生活科技), a contractor in a build-operate-transfer (BOT) land development project adjacent to Taipei Railway Station, yesterday signed a 20-year contract with Warner Village Cinemas Co (華納威秀), which will open a cinema at the site. The venue is located at the corner of Civic Boulevard and Chengde Road, north of Taipei Railway Station. Radium, which invested NT$12 billion in the project, last August signed a contract with Chinatrust Hotels Ltd (中信觀光開發), which is scheduled to open a five-star hotel on the site at the end of 2008. Radium also plans to work with other companies to open a shopping mall and office buildings at the site.

■ Acer leaves BenQ board
Acer Inc, the world's third-largest computer maker, announced yesterday that it will withdraw from BenQ Corp's (明基) board of directors to maintain separate brand operations for both companies. Acer will give up its one seat on the seven-seat board of BenQ, while Acer founder Stan Shih (施振榮) will maintain his seat on the board, the statement said. In recent years, Acer has been disposing shares in non-core businesses to focus on brand management, BenQ chief financial executive Eric Yu (游克用) said in the statement. The withdrawal would enable BenQ to have its own standalone management without much interference from Acer, he said. He added that Acer would stick to its reinvestment policy and might continue disposal of BenQ shares.

■ Taishin wants bigger stake
Taishin Financial Holdings Co (台新金控), which owns the nation's second-largest credit-card issuer, plans to increase its stake in Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) to more than 30 percent this year. "Hopefully we can raise the stake in Chang Hwa to at least 30 percent by the end of this year, and we don't rule out a merger next year," said Taishin chief financial officer Carol Lai (賴昭吟) yesterday. A merger would create the nation's fourth-largest financial group by market value. Taipei-based Taishin bought 22 percent of Chang Hwa in July for NT$36.6 billion (US$1.13 billion).

■ Farewell the Fokkers
Mandarin Airlines (華信航空) plans to order eight regional jets from Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer to replace its outdated Fokker planes, the Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) reported yesterday. Mandarin Airlines was expected to sign a letter of intent for the eight jets yesterday and sign the contract in three weeks later, the report said. The firm plans to order three 104-seat Embraer 190s and five 116-seat Embraer 195s with delivery scheduled for between 2007 and 2009, the report said. The Commercial Times daily said Mandarin Airlines has chosen Embraer because an Embraer 190/195 jet is priced at about US$30 million, compared with US$40 million for a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320, as well as because the maintenance costs are 20-percent lower. Mandarin Airlines declined to confirm the reports but said it was mulling the introduction of new jets. "We have been planning to upgrade our fleet for a long time and have been in touch with many aircraft makers," Mandarin Airlines press officer Linda Hsiao (蕭曉玲) said.

■ NT dollar climbs
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.017 to close at NT$32.481 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$680 million.

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