Catcher Technology Co (可成科技), laptop chassis maker and one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of magnesium alloy parts, said yesterday it planned to issue both non-collateral convertible bonds in Taiwan and global depositary receipts (GDR) abroad to cope with future investment needs.
In a stock exchange filing yesterday, Catcher said its board approved a proposal to sell up to NT$5 billion (US$155 million) in five-year zero-coupon convertible bonds to purchase new machinery equipment, repay bank loans and improve its working capital.
The board also agreed to a recapitalization plan through the issuance of GDRs, a separate filing said. The GDRs will be backed by 53 million to 66 million yet to be priced common shares.
Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Apple are Catcher’s main customers. On Monday the company said its sales dropped 15 percent year-on-year but rose 16 percent month-on-month to NT$1.7 billion last month.
Separately, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday it sold NT$10.82 billion of corporate bonds to raise funds for oil exploration and other projects.
The bonds are made up of NT$5.12 billion in five-year bonds, NT$2.9 billion in seven-year bonds and NT$2.8 billion in 10-year bonds, CPC said on its Web site.
Yesterday’s sale priced the five-year debt at a yield of 1.2 percent, 1.4 percent for the seven-year debt and 1.65 percent for the 10-year securities, it said.
State-controlled Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) and Agricultural Bank of Taiwan (全國農業金庫) will serve as joint guarantors for the bond sale, it said.
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
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