Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday said that it is exploring merger and acquisition opportunities as part of its strategy to have multiple growth engines in the banking, brokerage and insurance sectors.
The company made the statement after reports it is mulling its brokerage unit acquiring Ta Chong Securities Co Ltd (大眾證券) in a deal worth NT$4.2 billion (US$136 million).
“I cannot comment on specific cases,” Taishin chief financial officer and spokesperson Welch Lin (林維俊) said at an investors’ conference in Taipei.
However, he said that while the nation’s brokerages have been hard hit by waning turnover on the local bourse in the past two years, the downturn has created an opportunity for expansion.
“Valuations are more favorable during downturns and the company would have to pay a much higher price during boom times,” Lin said.
Taishin and Ta Chong Securities have been in talks with regulators about the rumored buyout, before Taishin is due to hold an extraordinary meeting of its board of directors on Friday, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News and Commercial Times reported on Monday.
The acquisition would rely on the consent of Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控), which owns about a 35 percent stake in Ta Chong Securities through its acquisition of Ta Chong Bank Ltd (大眾銀行) last year.
Taishin’s reputed offer of NT$11 per share is lower than the Ta Chong Securities’ estimated book value of NT$12.4 per share and its translates to a modest 10 percent premium, industry observers were quoted as saying.
In addition, the offer was made last year when average daily turnover on the local bourse had tumbled to between NT$40 billion and NT$50 billion, before rebounding to NT$113.01 billion as of Feb. 14, up from NT$70 billion at the end of January, Financial Supervisory Commission data showed.
Meanwhile, Lin said that the company would not be able to increase its capital before a court decision regarding a decade-long management dispute with state-run Chang Hwa Bank (CHB, 彰化銀行).
Should the court side with CHB, Taishin would be flush with cash after it liquidates its 22.2 percent stake in the state-run bank, Lin said.
Should the court rule in Taishin’s favor, the company would require considerable funds to fully acquire and merge its banking arm with CHB, Lin said, adding that the proceedings have accelerated and a ruling could be issued in June ahead of CHB’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
Taishin posted net income of NT$11.4 billion last year, or earnings per share of NT$1.14, down 13.8 percent year-on-year.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks