Taiwan Pulp and Paper Corp (TPPC, 台灣紙業) chairman Chien Hung-wen (簡鴻文) might relinquish his control of the company in exchange for the Ministry of Finance’s support for his chairmanship at Mega Securities Co (兆豐證券), the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported on Friday, citing sources at the ministry.
Chien, the focal point of an intensified boardroom row at the 70-year-old Tainan-based TPPC, filed a request with the ministry on Friday for permission to extend his tenure at the brokerage arm of state-run Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), the Liberty Times said.
The ministry is a major shareholder of Mega Financial and has the power to appoint heads at the financial firm and its subsidiaries.
Chien turns 65 this year, the official retirement age at Mega Securities, the paper said.
The TPPC’s boardroom dispute between Chien and president Yu Mei-ling (余美玲) has escalated into a proxy fight, leaving investors concerned about corporate governance.
Chien’s request would be granted if he is willing to step down as TPPC chairman by the end of next month, the Liberty Times said.
The company is at risk of being delisted from the local bourse for breaching compliance rules; it faces a deadline next month for its board to recognize last year’s earnings results.
However, Yu said she had little confidence Chien would keep his promise to step down, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported on Saturday.
“Judging by Chien’s remarks and actions over the past few months, his attitude has continuously flip-flopped,” the paper quoted Yu as saying.
Board members siding with Yu have continued their efforts to solicit more proxy votes, seeking to oust Chien at an extraordinary meeting scheduled for March 13, the Economic Daily News said.
However, in a half-page advertisement that ran on Friday on the front page of several local newspapers, Chien asked shareholders to show support for him at an extraordinary meeting he has scheduled for March 31.
To attract participants to their rival meetings, the two sides have prepared souvenirs. Those attending the March 13 meeting will receive two tubes of lip balm, while those who attend the March 31 meeting are to receive a convenience store gift voucher worth NT$50, local media reports said.
Chien’s family holds a more than 20 percent stake in TPPC, which gives it two seats on the seven-member board.
He is also chairman of the Taiwan Securities Association (券商公會), which according to its Web site has a mission to protect the interests of stock investors and coordinate between the government and member companies.
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