Acquisition plan on track
State-run Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) said yesterday that acquisition talks with Sunrise Asset Management Co (台陽投信) were on track, rebutting a report that its bid to buy the investment trust firm, together with strategic partner BNP Paribas SA, could be doomed.
"The report is purely market speculation," Lin Tien (林田), spokesman for Taiwan Cooperative Bank, said by telephone yesterday.
The state lender expects to complete the deal by the end of this quarter, if negotiations proceed smoothly, he said.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday that the joint plan to acquire Sunrise Asset Management for NT$318 billion (US$9.7 million), or NT$10.6 per share, might fail, as a local rival, Concord Securities Co (康和證券), had offered NT$400 million, or NT$12 per share.
The two parties inked a pact to form an asset management joint venture with Taiwan Cooperative holding 51 percent share and BNP Paribas taking the remainder to tap into the nation's fast-growing wealth management market.
Five-year bonds auctioned
The government yesterday sold NT$20 billion (US$609 million) in five-year bonds at a yield of 2.53 percent, higher than the rate of return from the last sale of comparable debt.
The yield was 1.914 percent in the previous sale on March 30. The auction drew bids equal to twice the offering, compared with 1.98 times at the last sale, a central bank statement read.
RFID development planned
The government will spend an additional NT$3.6 billion (US$109 million) over the next three years to boost the development of the radio frequency identification (RFID) industry, a Cabinet official said yesterday.
It will also seek to integrate RFID technology into government agencies and promote its applications in the private sector, said Lin Ferng-ching (林逢慶), chief of the Cabinet's National Information and Communications Initiative Committee.
The government plans to complete building of the industry's value chain by 2009 and expects production value to top NT$10 billion.
Vladivostok flights start
TransAsia Airways (復興航空) said yesterday that charter flights to Vladivostok, the Russian Pacific port city, would commence today.
The first flight will depart from Taoyuan today, with 150 tourists on board, the airline said.
The airline will provide two charter flights weekly until the end of October.
Taiwan does not have diplomatic ties with Russia, but has opened a liaison office in Moscow and is seeking to set up a second office in Vladivostok.
China Steel amends sales
China Steel Corp (中鋼), the nation's largest steelmaker, revised its sales report last month, citing errors in its machinery sales report.
Revenue was NT$17.7 billion (US$539 million) last month, 19 percent higher than a year earlier, the Kaohsiung-based company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday. The figure is 1.1 percent less than the NT$17.9 billion the steelmaker announced on July 9.
Pretax profit climbed 27 percent from a year earlier to NT$5.84 billion last month the company said.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar dropped on speculation importers were buying more US currency to hedge their fuel costs as crude oil prices rose to the highest in 11 months.
The NT dollar fell NT$0.017 to close at NT$32.825 on the Taipei Forex Inc yesterday.
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