The Taiwanese stock market promises to be an attractive destination for private equity funds after the global financial crisis almost halted capital market activity in the US and Europe, fund managers told a forum on Asian private equity and ventures yesterday.
Polaris Financial Group (寶來集團) vice chairman Huang Chih-yuan (黃齊元) told the forum, organized by AVCJ Group in Taipei, that the local bourse had benefited from what he and others called the “peace dividends” of improving ties between Taiwan and China following the election of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“The investment environment has improved significantly with the government in Taiwan deregulating cross-strait trade,” Huang said.
Taiwan’s industrial makeup is more diversified than that of Hong Kong, he said.
With scores of companies based in China and elsewhere applying to trade on the Taiwanese stock market, Huang said it could pave the way for the nation to become a financial hub.
Meanwhile, Ben Yang (楊邦彥), a general partner at Pacific Venture Partners (怡和創投), said the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) could evolve into the Asian version of NASDAQ, given the importance of high-tech firms.
Yang said the government had to take bolder and quicker steps to open the industry.
“If the government fails to open the technology industry, there is little promise of the TWSE turning into a NASDAQ,” Yang said, adding that deregulation was occurring, albeit at a slow pace.
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
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
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