Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) has invested in local cell-tissue banking and cell therapy company Bionet Corp (訊聯生物科技) through the purchase of NT$100 million (US$2.86 million) in Bionet shares, a Bionet official said.
The purchased shares represent 8.6 percent of Bionet’s outstanding shares, Bionet chairman Chris Tsai (蔡政憲) said at a media briefing yesterday.
The two companies plan to invest an additional NT$200 million in a joint venture called Conn Lian (康聯生醫), aimed at developing next-generation health care focused on predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory medicine, Tsai said.
Bolstered by the announcement, Bionet stocks rose limit-up to NT$43.40 on the GRETAI Securities Market. Hon Hai shares rose 5.01 percent to NT$75.5 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Hon Hai’s latest announcement followed the signing on Wednesday of a global GreenCert agreement with IBM, Enterprise Information Management Inc and C-Lock Technology Inc. The companies will jointly introduce greenhouse gas emission measurement technology.
“Hon Hai will take 50 percent ownership of the newly formed company, while Bionet and the rest of the investment consortium will each take 22.5 percent and 27.5 percent,” Tsai said.
Tsai said that in order for Bionet to increase its scale of operations, it urgently needed sizable funding and a partner who understands the importance of biotechnology.
Bionet therefore approached Hon Hai as a first choice investment partner roughly one year ago, Tsai said.
“After consulting with numerous international biotechnology firms, Hon Hai has chosen to invest in Bionet due to its superior technology management and operational capabilities. This collaboration marks the nation’s first real step by a large conglomerate to actively invest in genetic engineering and stem cell research,” David Wu (吳啟誠), head of Hon Hai medical group, said at the same briefing.
In separate news, Wu said Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and his wife were both well and anticipated the arrival of their first baby sometime in May.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
Asian e-commerce giant Shein’s (希音) decision to set up shop in a historic Parisian department store has ruffled feathers in the fashion capital. Anger has been boiling since Shein announced last week that it would open its first permanent physical store next month at BHV Marais, an iconic building that has stood across from Paris City Hall since 1856. The move prompted some French brands to announce they would leave BHV Marais, but the department store had already been losing tenants over late payments. Aime cosmetics line cofounder Mathilde Lacombe, whose brand was among those that decided to leave following
RSS