XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞科技) yesterday said it would sell only a 43 percent stake in its mobile game subsidiary for US$41.75 million instead of the planned 90 percent stake as a result of month-long negotiations with a Chinese company.
“The adjustment to the sales agreement was due to the buyer in Shanghai requesting that XPEC lower the price of a stake in Tiny Piece as a result of XPEC’s recent crisis,” XPEC acting chairman Ding Wan-ming (丁萬鳴) told a news conference at the Taipei Exchange.
He said XPEC reached a consensus with First Response Ltd to sell a smaller stake in the mobile game company at the same price after month-long negotiations.
REVISED DEAL
Under the revised agreement, XPEC is to maintain a 46.8 percent stake in Tiny Piece, while First Response would add to its original 10 percent stake for a total of 53.2 percent, Ding said.
XPEC was originally to be paid US$86.59 million for its 90 percent stake, Ding said, adding that the revised agreement would not cause a cash flow shortage.
First Response yesterday wired US$17 million, bringing the total received by XPEC to US$41.75 million, Ding said
XPEC has NT$600 million (US$19 million) in cash and cash equivalents on hand, XPEC chief financial officer Peter Lee (李柏衡) said.
LIQUIDITY
After factoring in the planned sale of XPEC’s honey cake and coffee chain operator subsidiaries E.G-Sain (一之鄉) and Ikari Coffee (怡客咖啡) this month, it would have sufficient liquidity until “at least” January, Ding said.
Ding declined to disclose the details of the E.G-Sain and Ikari Coffee sale, saying that the firm is still in discussions with a potential US buyer.
TAIPEI TRADING
XPEC shares dropped yesterday by the daily limit of 10 percent to a new low of NT$11.75 in Taipei trading.
The company is to continue trading as full-cash delivery stock today, the Taipei Exchange said.
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],”