CEPD to extend loan program
The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) said yesterday it will extend a loan program intended to help medium and large-sized, as well as unlisted, companies.
The council said in a statement that the program, originally due to expire at the end of this year, will remain valid until the end of next year.
Under the program, companies may apply for up to NT$100 million (US$3 million) in operational fund aid at interest rates of 3.26 percent or 3.29 percent.
The council encouraged companies to file applications, saying some NT$383 million remains available after approving 93 applications thus far.
First Financial eyes acquisition
State-run First Financial Holding Co (第一金控) is interested in acquiring Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), local media said yesterday.
First Financial is likely to team up with Aviva Plc, each of which will allocate NT$30 billion (US$913 million) to acquire Nan Shan, a local subsidiary of the financially troubled American International Group Inc (AIG), for NT$60 billion, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported, citing anonymous sources.
First Financial executives yesterday flew to Singapore to meet Aviva counterparts to discuss the acquisition, the report said.
Everlight leads gains
Everlight Electronics Co (億光電子) led gains among Taiwanese light-emitting diode companies after a report said China may invest in the nation’s LED factories.
Everlight Electronics, Taiwan’s second-largest LED maker, gained 3.5 percent to NT$85.90 in Taipei trading, the highest since June 6, while Epistar Corp (晶元光電) advanced 3 percent to NT$85. Opto Tech Corp (光磊科技) climbed 2.3 percent to NT$27.25 against the benchmark’s 1.8 percent jump.
The China Electronic Chamber of Commerce (中國電子商會) may seek to invest in Taiwan’s light-emitting diode factories, the Economic Daily News reported, without saying where it got its information.
The chamber will send a delegation to Taiwan today, the Chinese language newspaper said, citing chamber vice president Wang Ning (王寧). The chamber may also buy Taiwan LED-related products, the report said.
Gome rises for second day
Gome Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd (國美電器), the Chinese retailer whose billionaire founder is under police investigation, rose for a second day in Hong Kong trading on fundraising plans that include an investment by Bain Capital LLC.
Gome rose 4 percent to HK$1.96 at the 12.30pm trading break in Hong Kong, boosting its gain since Tuesday, when it ended a seven-month suspension, to 75 percent. The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 1.3 percent.
China’s second-biggest electronics retailer had dropped 77 percent last year before being halted in November when main shareholder Huang Guangyu (黃光裕) was detained for “economic crimes.”
Gome will sell 1.59 million yuan (US$233 million) of convertible bonds to a Bain affiliate and HK$1.66 billion (US$214 million) in shares to stockholders, reassuring investors the company retains financial support.
“The worst times are over for Gome,” Elsa Zhang (張薇), a Shenzhen-based consumer analyst at First Shanghai Securities Ltd (第一上海證券), said yesterday. “The company was given a shot in the arm with the refinancing and the resumption of trading improves transparency of the company among investors.”
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday gained NT$0.063 to close at NT$32.862 against the US dollar on turnover of US$862 million.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained