Chinastrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) should “seriously consider” the potential ramifications of relinquishing more of its shares to Hong Kong-based China Strategic Holdings Ltd (中策集團), which is slated to acquire Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), if it aims to grab a controlling stake in the Taipei-based life insurer, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) told the legislature yesterday.
“I don’t think Chinatrust Financial has thought through the consequences and its next step, which is a very serious matter,” Chen said during a legislative session.
Using marriage as a metaphor, he asked: “It is okay for Miss [Chinatrust Financial] to get married, but does she really want to tie the knot [with China Strategic]?”
By law, the commission will require the Taipei-based financial services provider to convene either board meetings or shareholders’ meetings to discuss the matter, including recent circumstances related to its private placement plan, he said, urging the company to resubmit its application for the fund-raising proposal.
Chen said he believes the company no longer needs to issue as many as 2.5 billion new shares because it failed in its bid to acquire a 97.57 percent stake in Nan Shan.
He also questioned the discounted pricing of the new shares at NT$17.74 per share, or 9.5 percent off its close of NT$19.6 yesterday.
“If you were the shareholder, what would you think? Why not let domestic shareholders [China Strategic is to take up 1.172 billion shares] subscribe for the shares at a discount?” he asked.
He reiterated “inconsistencies” in the planned transactions by both parties, which he said were just some of his many concerns over the deal.
The commission will voice its concerns when China Strategic and Chinatrust Financial resubmit their applications for regulatory approval “in a written format with written supporting documents instead of empty verbal commitments.”
Unless the regulator’s concerns are addressed, no regulatory approval will be granted to finalize their multiple deals, he said.
Legislators across party lines yesterday gave a thumbs-down to Nan Shan’s planned sale to the consortium led by China Strategic and Primus Financial Holdings Ltd.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) yesterday questioned the integrity of China Strategic’s major stakeholders, some of whom he described as “speculative stock vultures,” who only aim for quick gains.
“[The regulator] should veto all the transactions,” he said.
KMT Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) agreed, saying the Hong Kong consortium did not meet criteria — a minimum seven-year commitment to the local market, Nan Shan employees and policyholders, past expertise in insurance management and sufficient capital — that the commission has requested.
She called the commission a “toothless tiger,” which she said should have toughened up its stance on the deals and set up a precedent before any similar Chinese investors invade the market.
“Taiwan can’t afford to become a paradise for quick gains in the eyes of international speculators,” she said.
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