FINANCE
Postal deposits grow stably
The average deposit balance per post office account as of the end of September rose about 2.5 percent year-on-year from NT$165,000 (US$5,154) to NT$169,000, indicating stable growth in postal deposits, state-owned Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) said yesterday. This year’s figure is NT$25,000 higher than the NT$144,000 recorded in 2011, Chunghwa Post data showed. The average deposit balance in 2012 was NT$150,000, rising to NT$153,000 in 2013, and has continued to increase. The total deposit balance at Chunghwa Post was NT$6 trillion at the end of September, compared with the NT$3.86 trillion held by Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), the largest bank in the nation.
ENTERTAINMENT
Director decries ‘monopoly’
One of China’s most famous film directors has publicly accused the nation’s richest man of monopolizing the cinema market and limiting screenings of his latest movie. Veteran director Feng Xiaogang (馮小剛) said that I Am Not Madame Bovary (我不是潘金蓮) has been given on average 40 percent or more of available screening slots in cinemas, but only 10.9 percent in those run by Wanda Cinema Line Co (萬達院線). The theater chain operator is owned by Wang Jianlin’s (王健林) Wanda Group Co (萬達集團), a real-estate conglomerate that has become the world’s biggest cinema operator and recently signed up as a FIFA sponsor until 2030. In an open letter to Wang on the microblogging site Sina Weibo, Feng said the company had become too powerful in China. Wang’s son, Wanda board member Wang Sicong (王思聰), responded in a Weibo posting to Feng’s accusations by suggesting his film was simply not good enough to merit more screenings. A Wanda spokesman declined to comment.
BEVERAGES
Swire to buy bottling firms
Hong Kong conglomerate Swire Pacific Ltd is nearing the acquisition of Coca-Cola bottling assets in China from a unit of state-owned food giant Cofco Corp (中國糧油), people with knowledge of the matter said. Swire is close to an agreement to purchase stakes in Coca-Cola bottlers from Cofco’s China Foods Ltd (中糧名莊薈) subsidiary, the people said. The deal could value the businesses at about US$1 billion, the people said. China Foods in August said that it was exploring the sale of its stakes in 10 Coca-Cola bottling companies in the country, including some operations that are joint ventures with Swire. Negotiations could still fall apart or be delayed, the people said.
FOOD
CPF to acquire Bellisio
Thailand’s biggest food company, owned by the kingdom’s richest tycoon, has agreed to buy US frozen-food giant Bellisio for nearly US$1.1 billion. Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) hailed the acquisition of the US firm, which has a slew of popular frozen brands under its banner, as its first “entry into the world’s largest food market.” The two food titans expect to close the transaction within 180 days, CPF said in a statement released on Thursday. The company is part of Thailand’s sprawling CP Group, owned by billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont. CPF hopes to use its new foothold in the US to “bring greater variety of products, particularly Asian food products, to US consumers,” chief executive Adirek Sripratak said in a statement. Bellisio Foods produces and distributes frozen foods for well-known brands like Boston Market and Chili’s.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure