Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT, 亞太電信) chairman Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) entered a sale and purchase agreement with Macquarie Holdings (Singapore) Pte to buy a stake in the nation’s No. 3 cable TV system operator in his own capacity, a statement released yesterday said.
“The proposed purchase of Taiwan Broadband Communications Co [TBC, 台灣寬頻] is Lu’s personal investment and has nothing to do with APT or Hon Hai Precision Industry Co [鴻海精密],” APT said in a statement.
However, the deal still prompted speculation that it could be Hon Hai’s latest step toward the expansion of its business scope to the cable TV industry and APT might benefit from the digital convergence of telecom and cable businesses.
Hon Hai holds about a 23 percent share of APT after expanding to the telecom sector by acquiring the company last year via its subsidiary Ambit Microsystems Corp (國碁電子).
APT shares rallied nearly 10 percent of the daily limit to NT$10.9 yesterday. TBC has 750,000 subscribers, behind Kbro Co (凱擘) and China Network Systems Co (CNS, 中嘉網路).
Lu has proposed a full buy out of Macquarie APTT Management Ptd Ltd — the trustee manager of Asia Pay Television Trust (APTT), which owns TBC — the APT statement said.
No financial details were disclosed yesterday.
Upon completion of the proposed transaction, Macquarie is likely to divest its entire interest in the units of APTT to a related entity of Lu, amounting to 43.10 million units, or about 3 percent of the unitholding of APTT.
Lu said he believes that “APTT is a high-quality business, and an excellent platform to leverage his sector experience and strategic partnerships in content creation, data processing and telecom services, which might have the potential to drive further growth for APTT unitholders,” a separate statement released by Macquarie said.
If and when the transaction is completed, Lu is likely to appoint a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the trustee-manager, the statement said. It is unlikely there would be changes made to the independent directors of the board of the trustee-manager or TBC’s senior management team.
The completion of the proposed transaction is subject to approval by relevant regulatory bodies and lenders.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
RSS