Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), the nation’s sixth-largest financial service provider by assets, said yesterday it should complete a NT$8 billion (US$244.7 million) capital injection from Japan’s Dai-Ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co by mid-December, hoping to boost the ratio of risk-based capital (RBC) for its insurance arm to 250 percent.
“The capital injection represents a confidence boost from Dai-Ichi in its years-long strategic alliance [with Shin Kong],” Shin Kong Financial Holding president Victor Hsu (許澎)said by telephone.
Upon the plan’s completion, Dai-Ichi will become Shin Kong’s largest shareholder with a 14.9 percent stake, up from 5.99 percent, Hsu said. The purchasing price per share will be determined mid-next month in accordance with its average over a three-month period.
The price is likely to fall between NT$13 and NT$14 per share, depending on the fluctuations over the next month.
Dai-Ichi would face regulatory complications in Japan if its overseas stake exceeded 15 percent and will therefore keep its stake in Shin Kong below that threshold.
Shares of Shin Kong Financial rose 4.11 percent to NT$7.6 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, outperforming a drop of 1.62 percent on the benchmark TAIEX. Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評) said in a statement yesterday that Shin Kong’s recapitalization plan would not affect its ratings and outlook.
SinoPac Securities Corp (永豐金證券) believes the new capital from Dai-Ichi will “breathe life into Shin Kong,” which has seen earnings erode and share prices plunge as a result of its subprime-related investments, the local brokerage said in a note yesterday.
On the local bourse, Shin Kong Financial shares have plummeted nearly 66 percent this year, the stock exchange’s tallies showed.
The capital injection via a private placement will be raised through the combination of common shares of Shin Kong Financial, which Shin Kong Financial will use to re-inject capital into its subsidiary, Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽), and preferred shares of Shin Kong Life.
Shin Kong Financial hopes to raise the RBC ratio of its life insurance arm, which suffered more than NT$15 billion in losses as of last month, to 250 percent if the company succeeds in cutting losses from share investments and currency exchanges this quarter.
Shin Kong Life had NT$15 billion in currency exchange losses — as a result of fluctuations in the local currency over the past few months — and another NT$5 billion in losses from exposure to the subprime market, Hsu said.
The company said, however, that it may capitalize on the local property market, with prices currently “reasonable,” Hsu said.
The company has spent NT$85 billion on acquiring real estate, including seven commercial buildings in Neihu Science Park and a planned hotel in Xinyi District (信義).
The company plans to pump another NT$20 billion into property and has shifted its focus to commercial properties with fixed incomes, such as monthly rentals with a guaranteed 5 percent return.
JITTERS: Nexperia has a 20 percent market share for chips powering simpler features such as window controls, and changing supply chains could take years European carmakers are looking into ways to scratch components made with parts from China, spooked by deepening geopolitical spats playing out through chipmaker Nexperia BV and Beijing’s export controls on rare earths. To protect operations from trade ructions, several automakers are pushing major suppliers to find permanent alternatives to Chinese semiconductors, people familiar with the matter said. The industry is considering broader changes to its supply chain to adapt to shifting geopolitics, Europe’s main suppliers lobby CLEPA head Matthias Zink said. “We had some indications already — questions like: ‘How can you supply me without this dependency on China?’” Zink, who also
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
At least US$50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: That is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to militants linked to al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law. Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad.” Its goal: Oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralyzing the west African country’s economy.
RE100 INITIATIVE: Exporters need sufficient supplies of renewable energy to meet their global commitments and remain competitive, the economics ministry said Local export-oriented manufacturers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), require sufficient supplies of green energy to maintain their competitiveness and regulations already ensure that renewable energy development adheres to environmental protection principles, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, as the legislature imposed further restrictions on solar panel installations. The opposition-led Legislative Yuan yesterday passed third readings to proposed amendments to three acts — the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法), the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例) and the Geology Act (地質法) — which would largely prohibit the construction of solar panels in some areas. The amendments stipulate that ground-mounted solar
RSS