More than 10,000 employees from Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) yesterday staged a rally in front of the legislature in Taipei, asking the Financial Supervisory Commission to quickly approve its acquisition by a local consortium.
The insurer’s US parent, American International Group Inc (AIG), inked a deal in January to sell its 97.57 percent stake in Nan Shan to Ruen Chen Investment Holding Co (潤成投資) for US$2.16 billion.
Yesterday’s demonstration came after the US insurance giant recently indicated it would have no choice but to downsize Nan Shan if the authorities reject its second attempt to sell the local unit in order to pay down debt to the US government.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“The rally is intended to convey our concern over the lingering uncertainty about the company’s fate, two years after AIG first put it on the market,” Nan Shan spokeswoman Amanda Chou (周佳容) said.
In 2009, AIG sought to sell Nan Shan to a Hong Kong consortium comprising China Strategic Holdings Ltd (中策集團) and Primus Financial Holdings Ltd (博智金融), but the Financial Supervisory Commission thwarted the attempt in August last year on concern over the consortium’s long-term commitment and its ability to raise capital.
Nan Shan acting president and chief executive Richard Bender said last month that AIG would not inject new funds into its Taiwanese subsidiary or put it on the market for a third time if the regulator rejects the sale again.
The commission reiterated yesterday evening that it would carry out its review in a prudent, fair and efficient manner. Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Chen Yuh-chang (陳裕璋) has promised to reach a decision before the end of next month.
“Many employees are worried about losing their job,” Chou said. “The uncertainty has made selling new policies very difficult.”
Without fresh funds, Nan Shan’s business will wither or even come to a halt, affecting the rights of 40,000 employees and 4 million policyholders, Bender said in an internal letter last month that rooted for the acquisition by Ruen Chen.
The new consortium, comprising supermarket operator Ruentex Development Co (潤泰新), cement and chemical fiber maker Ruentex Industries Ltd (潤泰全) and shoemaker Pou Chen Corp (寶成工業), has pledged to retain all existing staff and maintain their pay and compensation packages for at least two years.
“Regulators and lawmakers should know the majority of Nan Shan employees support the acquisition, although some of their colleagues have a different view,” Chou said.
More than 20,000 back office staff and sales agents signed a petition to show their support for the acquisition bid, Chou said.
Thousands of other sales agents, however, have urged the commission to withhold approval unless Ruen Chen agrees to recognize them as regular employees rather than independent contractors, disqualifing them from retirement benefits.
Financial Supervisory Commission Secretary-General Lin Tung-liang (林棟樑) said the commission would factor in opinions from all sides when weighing up the case.
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
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”