The chairman of Farglory Group (遠雄集團) has mapped out a five-year growth plan for his company involving international construction projects and seven initial public offerings (IPO).
Farglory chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) told reporters that the company has made expanding into overseas markets a priority for the 2011-2015 period, during which NT$400 billion (US$13.8 billion) will be invested in construction projects in the Middle East, Taiwan and China.
The five-year plan was the ninth such plan issued by the Farglory Group, a conglomerate whose business interests include property development and construction, finance and insurance, air cargo logistics, commercial development, and recreation and leisure.
Chao said the company was optimistic it would obtain a construction permit for a planned project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), by September.
Citing the favorable investment climate in the UAE, Chao said the political unrest in Bahrain, known previously as the Arab world’s financial center, prompted risk-averse investors to pull out a total of US$60 billion from that country and move it to Abu Dhabi.
Chao said the group would also launch seven IPOs by the end of 2015. Farglory currently has two companies — Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) and Farglory Free Trade Zone Investment Holding Co Ltd (遠雄自貿港投資控股) — listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The group is considering listing subsidiaries Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽), Farglory Hotel (遠雄悅來飯店), Taiwan Solar Energy Corp (元晶太陽能) and Golden Biotechnology Corp (國鼎生物科技), along with its Middle East unit.
Chao also plans to list a China-based construction firm, a firm he personally financed, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, Straits Construction Investment Ltd (海峽建設投資有限公司), a joint venture company Farglory group formed with businessmen in China and Hong Kong, is also scheduled to be listed on the NASDAQ.
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
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