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Ta Chong posts net NT$20m

Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行) posted pre-tax net income of NT$405 million (US$12 million) for last month, the nation's fifth-biggest cash card issuer said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.

But after a bad debt provision of NT$385 million, Ta Chong's pre-tax net income last month was NT$20 million, it said.

For the first nine months, the bank accumulated a loss of NT$388 million, or a deficit of NT$0.14 per share, according to the filing.

The lender's finance will improve in the near term, after its board last month approved to raise a total NT$21.5 billion from Carlyle Group and private equity fund Corsair Capital LLC through a private placement.

The bank expected to obtain NT$15.5 billion of the fund by the end of the month and the remainder next month.

Central bank to hold auction

The central bank will auction NT$100 billion (US$3 billion) in 364-day certificates of deposits on Oct. 9 as part of its efforts to absorb liquidity from the banking system, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

The certificates will be issued on Oct. 11, the bank said.

In the statement, the bank said banks, credit cooperatives, bills finance companies, investment trust firms and Taiwan Post Co (臺灣郵政) are eligible to take part in the auction.

EVA to fly from Taipei to NYC

EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空), Taiwan's leading international carrier, said yesterday that it will launch non-stop service three times a week from Taipei to New York beginning on Dec. 4.

An airline spokeswoman said it would fly Boeing 777-300ERs for the route, which will give EVA 39 flights a week to four US cities -- New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

III to hold patent bidding

The Institute for Information Industry (III) will hold open bidding on patent sales and license agreements on 127 cases involving 199 projects on crucial software technology, III executive vice president Huang Yen-nun (黃彥男) said yesterday.

According to Huang, bids can be submitted until 5pm on Oct. 26, and the III will open the bids at 10am on Oct. 30.

Huang noted that software development can help to increase functions and added value for products in an era of marginal profits.

Consumer electronic products such as cellphones, MP3 players and GPS devices, and businesses related to the Internet, electronic business, digital learning and business intelligence all rely on software advances for more business opportunities, Huang said.

Patent rights help to create commercial value for software development, Huang said.

A total of 22 packages of patent sales and 23 packages of license agreements are related to embedded software, application platforms of software and application solutions, including wireless communication systems, routing protocol technology, human-machine interaction technology, and image recognition technology, Huang said.

Nokia to buy mapmaker Navteq

Nokia, the world's leading maker of mobile phones, said yesterday it had agreed to buy US digital mapmaker Navteq for 5.7 billion euros (US$8.1 billion).

Nokia said it would pay US$78 in cash for each Navteq share, valuing the group at US$8.1 billion.

The acquisition will be subject to regulatory approvals and Navteq shareholders' approval, Nokia said.

Navteq provides comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices and Internet-based mapping applications.

Pacific Sogo gets new boss

Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨), the nation's second-largest department store operator, yesterday said its board appointed Huang Ching-wen (黃晴雯) to replace Chung Chin (鍾琴) as the retailer's new chairwoman, a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed. Huang, a vice president in charge of enterprise evelopment under the FarEastern Group's (遠東集團) retail business, will take up her new position immediately, the filing said. Far Eastern Group acquired Pacific Sogo in 2002 from the Pacific Construction Co (太平洋建設).

Huang had been working with various local TV stations including China Television Co (CTV, 中視), Era TV (年代電視) and Da-Ai Television Channel (大愛電視台) as a TV anchor prior to joining Far Eastern Group in September of last year.

Chung, former head of the Government Information Office, tendered her resignation in early July citing personal career reasons, even though her second three-year term does not expire until 2009. She became Pacific Sogo's first chairwoman in 2003.


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