APBT to cut capital
The debt-ridden Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (APBT, 亞太固網) said yesterday that its board had approved a proposed 60 percent cut in capital in order to improve the firm's finances.
After the adjustment, the company will have NT$39.4 billion in capital, down from NT$65.6 billion.
The board also passed a NT$30 billion capital increase.
The company is scheduled to hold a special shareholder's meeting on Sept. 28 to discuss its recapitalization plans.
Taiwan Cooperative eyes HK
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) plans to start operations of its Hong Kong branch next quarter after obtaining a green light from the Financial Supervisory Commission last Friday to upgrade the overseas outlet, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
The Hong Kong branch will cater for China-based Taiwanese clients' funding needs, said Taiwan Cooperative, which owns the largest franchise network in Taiwan.
Apart from lending business, the Hong Kong branch, the bank's fifth overseas foothold, will compete for cross-border syndicated loans and offer wealth management services, the lender said.
Taiwan Cooperative is in the process of applying for licenses for a Ho Chi Minh City branch and Sydney branch. The bank tendered its application to Vietnam's financial regulator last month.
Cold Stone goes to China
President Chain Store Corp (統一超商), operator of the world's third-largest 7-Eleven franchise, said yesterday that it opened two Cold Stone Creamery ice cream stores in Shanghai on July 19.
This was the first expansion of the US premium ice cream brand across the Taiwan Strait. President Chain Store Corp owns exclusive licensing rights for the ice cream in Taiwan and China, following the launch of two outlets in Taipei in April and last month.
Shanghai Cold Stone Ice Cream Corp (上海酷聖石冰淇淋), 100 percent owned by President Chain, plans to open 10 stores in Shanghai and Beijing by the end of this year, the firm said in a statement yesterday.
President Chain signed the licensing deal with US Cold Stone Creamery last November under which the US firm will provide operational know-how during the 30 year contract.
Macronix to quit NASDAQ
The board of Taiwanese chipmaker Macronix International Co (旺宏) yesterday approved a proposed withdrawal of its listing from the NASDAQ to cut costs, according to a company statement.
In a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Macronix did not give a timetable for the delisting, but said that chairman Miin Wu (吳敏求) would be in charge.
The Hsinchu-based chipmaker would save about NT$100 million (US$2.99 million) each year if it stopped trading in US depositary receipts in the US, Macronix said in May. In 1996, Macronix became one of the first local companies to trade shares on the NASDAQ.
Chinatrust to sell stake
The board of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday agreed to sell its remaining 11.64 percent holding in Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) within the next four years after the company failed in its takeover bid for the larger state-run rival.
Chinatrust will sell its entire stake to buyers that meet the requirements of financial regulators and the finance ministry's state shareholding management panel, the financial group said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The company completed a mandatory sale of a 3.9 percent share of Mega Financial last month as required by the Financial Supervisory Commission after the privately owned financial conglomerate was found to have engaged in misconduct during the takeover.
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
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
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