Court rules in APBT's favor
The Taipei District Court yesterday delivered a new civil arbitration in favor of Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (APBT, 亞太固網), preventing Deutsche Bank from selling off the local fixed-line operator's mobile unit as part of a loan repayment plan, the Central News Agency reported, citing APBT.
Last March, APBT under Rebar Group's management obtained a NT$6.8 billion (US$205 million) bank loan from lender Deutsche Bank and Chinese telephone equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co (華為技術), using 1.42 billion Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications Inc (亞太行動) shares as collateral.
As APBT faced financial difficulty, the German bank obtained the court's approval in May to auction the wireless unit's shares. But APBT decided to appeal the case, saying the terms of the loan were reached amid controversy and should be nullified.
Taiwan least optimistic: poll
Taiwanese expressed the weakest sentiment in an Asia-Pacific survey released by MasterCard Worldwide yesterday.
Among the 13 markets polled, Taiwan scored the lowest at 35.6, compared with the region's average of 67.9, the biannual report said.
Vietnam, with a high score of 91.3, continues to top the 13 markets as the most bullish country for the six months ahead.
It was followed by Hong Kong at 84.7 and China at 84, the report said. Australia and Malaysia showed the biggest jumps in levels of consumer optimism.
"Consumer confidence in the region is very bullish on the whole, especially because of China's continued strong growth," said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong (王月魂), a Singapore-based economic adviser for MasterCard Asia-Pacific.
"However, consumer sentiments may be affected in the future by some near-term factors around the world such as potentially higher inflation, slower growth in the US and rising geopolitical tension," he said.
The survey interviewed 5,407 people across the Asia-Pacific region between May 2 and May 31 to poll their responses on employment, economy, regular income, stock market and quality of life.
VIA preparing for lawsuit
Chip designer VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子) yesterday said it had not received any legal notification about the patent infringement lawsuit filed by US chipmaker OPTI Inc, and that it would take legal steps to counter the accusation later.
VIA said it would take measures to safeguard the interest of the company and its customers if it found the accusation to be untrue, a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed.
VIA's comment came after the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that OPTI had filed a complaint in a US court earlier this month accusing VIA and seven other chipmakers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom Corp, of illegally using two US patents held by OPTI.
Thai electronics fair planned
The semi-official Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) is organizing a show for electronic products in Bangkok in a drive to assist Taiwanese businesses to make inroads into Thai markets, a TAITRA spokesman said yesterday.
The fair is scheduled for July 26 to 29 this year.
NT dollar shows weekly loss
The New Taiwan dollar had a weekly loss on speculation that the nation's investors bought higher-yielding assets overseas and oil companies would need more US dollars to pay for imports.
The NT dollar fell NT$0.002 to close at NT$32.809 against the US currency on the Taipei Forex Inc. Turnover was US$810 million.
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