Regulator finds Wang's assets
The nation's financial regulator has tracked down NT$90 million in Europe-based assets owned by fugitive business tycoon Wang You-theng (王又曾), former chairman of bankrupt Rebar Group (力霸集團).
The group's bank debtors are seeking ways to claim Wang's assets to repay debts he left in Taiwan, Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) told a press conference yesterday, refusing to give details.
Lotte expands in China
Lotte Shopping Co, South Korea's largest retailer, said it plans to acquire a stake in a discount-store operator in China as it expands in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
Lotte agreed to pay 57.6 million euros (US$83.2 million) for the 49 percent stake in CTA Makro (中貿聯萬客隆) to SHV Holdings NV, which operates the Chinese venture, the Seoul-based retailer said in a regulatory filing yesterday.
CTA Makro, in which China Trade Association Property Corp Ltd (中貿聯置業有限公司) owns the remaining 51 percent stake, now operates five discount stores in Beijing and two in Tianjin.
The stake purchase is pending approval from the Chinese government, the statement said.
Kingfisher sells B&Q shares
Kingfisher Plc, Europe's largest home-improvement retailer, agreed to sell its half of B&Q Taiwan to its joint venture partner, Test Rite International (特力股份有限公司), for US$106.5 million in cash.
The Taiwanese unit was founded in 1996 and has 21 stores employing 1,800 people, the London-based company said in a Regulatory News Service statement yesterday. Kingfisher said it will use the proceeds to reduce debt.
"B&Q Taiwan now [only] offers only limited opportunities for future market-share growth," Peter Jackson, chairman of Kingfisher, said in the statement.
Green Energy postpones debut
Green Energy Technology Inc (綠能科技), the nation's biggest solar silicon wafer maker, decided to postpone the initial public offering of its shares on Taiwan's main bourse until the first half of next year, citing a poor stock market, the company said in a statement released yesterday.
The company was scheduled to launch the IPO next Monday. The company stressed it would not slow its expansion next year because of the delay in debuting its shares.
Yesterday, Green Energy obtained a NT$3.5 billion (US$107.75 million) in syndicated loans from 14 banks led by Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) to fund a new 8.5-generation factory with a monthly output of 30 megawatts. The plant is expected to be completed in April next year.
Standard lowers GDP forecast
Standard Chartered Taiwan yesterday revised downward its forecast on the nation's GDP growth next year to 3.8 percent from its earlier estimate of 4.2 percent in July.
It also forecast this year's GDP to level at 5.3 percent.
The bank's chief economist Tony Phoo (符銘財) yesterday warned that the nation will face numerous economic challenges next year including rising inflation and a local economic slowdown, which is triggered by the US subprime crisis, to worsen the prospect on corporate earnings.
He urged the government to soon find ways to spur the economy although he is confident that the inflation rate can be contained below 2 percent next year.
Phoo also predicted the central bank will raise its benchmarket interest rate 0.125 percentage points to 3.375 percent this Thursday.
NT dollar drops
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday dropped by NT$0.105 to trade at NT$32.481 against the greenback on turnover of US$968 million.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six