Troubled game developer XPEC Entertainment Inc (樂陞) yesterday said it has not bought back a single share during its two-month share buyback scheme, because its plans to use the capital for other purposes.
XPEC on Sept. 4 announced a NT$6.25 billion (US$198.29 million) share buyback scheme to buy up to 6.25 million of its common shares for between NT$45 and NT$130 from Sept. 5 until Friday last week in an effort to rebuild investor confidence after Bai Chi Gan Tou Digital Entertainment Co (百尺竿頭) scrapped its plan to buy a 25.17 percent stake in the company.
The company would raise funds to support the NT$6.25 billion buyback program, XPEC chairman Aaron Hsu (許金龍) told reporters, before being held incommunicado on Sept. 30 over allegations of share price manipulation.
However, as of the end of last month, the company had only about NT$600 million in cash and cash equivalents, XPEC financial chief officer Peter Lee (李柏衡) said.
“We did not carry out the share buyback program because the company has reconsidered the use of its funds,” XPEC said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
The game developer said in a separate filing that its independent board directors, former Taipei deputy mayor Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) and former minister of economic affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘), resigned from their posts on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
The resignations came two months after media celebrity Sisy Chen (陳文茜) resigned as an independent board director at XPEC on Sept. 6.
XPEC shares yesterday plunged by the 10 percent daily limit to close at NT$12.65 in Taipei trading.
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