A month-long rally in Taiwan financial stocks may accelerate as the nation's banks attract overseas buyers and reduce bad loans.
The London-based Standard Chartered Plc bank, which earns two-thirds of its profit in Asia, on Sept. 29 offered US$1.2 billion for Hsinchu International Bank (
"This is the beginning, and if more global lenders are interested in buying banks in Taiwan, the sector will certainly extend gains," said Jerry Chen, the Taipei-based head of funds management at First Global Investment Trust Co (
President Chen Shui-bian's (
An index that keeps track of the performance of 40 Taiwan financial stocks has surged 9.8 percent since the beginning of last month, after falling 0.6 percent in the first eight months of the year and slumping 15 percent last year.
The benchmark TAIEX is up 6 percent since Aug. 31.
Far Eastern International Bank (
Even after their recent surge, Taiwan's banks remain cheap relative to other Asian banks. Stocks in Taiwan's financial index sell on average for 1.5 times book value, or net assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, below the average of 2.1 for the 219 members in the regional finance index.
"Taiwan banks' valuations are attractive," said Sean Darby, head of Asian strategy at Nomura Holdings Inc in Hong Kong. "They are about a third cheaper" than regional peers.
Standard Chartered offered NT$24.50 a share for Hsinchu International, Taiwan's seventh-largest private-sector bank, 31 percent more than the stock's Sept. 29 close. The shares have jumped 30 percent since then.
"Standard Chartered's bid demonstrates that Taiwanese banks are overlooked and undervalued," said Murphy Huang, who helps manage US$2.3 billion at PCA Securities Investment Trust Co in Taipei. "This is a wake up call for stock investors."
Bank of Overseas Chinese (
Standard Chartered's move puts "pressure on global players to likewise move forward in their acquisition plans," said Matthew Smith, a Taipei-based bank analyst at Macquarie Securities.
"We are ready for marriage," Thomas Chou (
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last