A Hong Kong consortium bidding for Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) said it would deposit US$325 million, or around 15 percent of the purchase price for the insurer, in an account as a pledge of support for the Taiwanese firm.
In October, China Strategic Holdings Ltd (中策集團) teamed up with Primus Financial Holdings Ltd to acquire a 97.57 percent stake in Nan Shan from its US parent, American International Group Inc (AIG), for US$2.15 billion.
China Strategic said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing yesterday that the consortium had reached an agreement with AIG to set up an escrow account at Citibank Hong Kong, from which it would draw money should Nan Shan experience any shortfall in its risk-based capital (RBC).
That would apply if Nan Shan’s RBC ratio falls below 200 percent, in which case it would be required by Taiwanese regulators to raise its RBC to at least 200 percent, it said.
The Nan Shan deal has been under review by Taiwanese regulators since October over a wide array of concerns about the consortium’s shareholding structure and source of capital, as well as its ability to safeguard Nan Shan employees and policyholders’ interests.
The establishment of an escrow account for RBC funding of Nan Shan came after China Strategic CEO Raymond Or (柯清輝) reportedly resigned his membership from an advisory body to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) earlier this month amid Taiwan’s concerns about his political affiliation, hoping to speed up the consortium’s acquisition of the insurer.
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],”
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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