Yuanta Asset Management Co (元大國際資產), a subsidiary of Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), yesterday sold an office building in downtown Taipei to Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) for NT$3.05 billion (US$103.4 million), both companies said in separate stock filings.
That was 12.86 percent lower than the asking price a month earlier.
The 18-floor building on Jianguo N Road Sec 2 failed to attract any bidders in an auction that was held late last month, when it was priced at NT$3.5 billion and tied to office space in buildings in less-popular locations.
The sale of the 27-year-old building, which Yuanta Asset acquired from Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽保險) three years ago, would still generate NT$719 million in property gains, the filings said.
The price cut would give Taiwan Life Insurance more leeway to meet tighter requirements on real-estate investment by life insurers, which must bear returns of 2.125 percent, up from the previous 1.875 percent.
The Financial Supervisory Commission raised the threshold to improve profitability for life insurers and curb property speculation.
With 4,729 ping (15,605m2) in floor space and located on a 574 ping plot of land, the building is fully occupied.
Separately, Taiwan Life said in another stock exchange filing that its board approved a proposal to raise about NT$1.35 billion from shares to shore up the company’s finances.
The board approved an issue price of 75 million new common shares at NT$18 a share, implying a 6.98 percent discount from the company’s closing share price of NT$19.35 yesterday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Original shareholders and employees will subscribe to 75 percent and 15 percent of the new shares respectively, leaving only 10 percent to be raised from the open market, the filing said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last