Taiwan Land Development Corp (TLDC, 台灣土地開發) has approved plans to raise new capital through a private placement as the Taipei-based developer aims to introduce cloud-computing technology in its projects.
The company’s board last week agreed to issue 100 million new shares, tentatively priced at NT$12 each, to raise NT$1.2 billion (US$39.6 million) in new capital, TLDC chairman Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) said.
“The firm, which used to focus on the development of government-owned industrial parks, is sailing on a new course nine years after its full privatization from a state-run business,” Chiu told a news conference in Taipei.
It is developing mixed-use complexes in Hsinchu, Nantou, Hualien and Kinmen that are to feature cultural and religious elements, as well as environmentally friendly designs, Chiu said.
All of the complexes could be ideal retirement communities in light of their scenic locations, lush green areas, access to recreational facilities and “smart” living devices, he said.
The firm has obtained permits to develop 2,100 residential units with more than 100,000 ping (330,579m2) of floor space, he said.
The projects are expected to bring in about NT$50 billion in revenue this year, he said.
TLDC is in talks with parties for the private placement, which still needs to win shareholder approval.
It plans to hold its annual general meeting on June 28, including the election of new board members.
Chiu left his media businesses in 2008 to concentrate on running TLDC.
Since then, TLDC’s assets have risen fivefold from NT$4.13 billion to NT$25 billion last year, while its net worth had increased from NT$11.5 to NT$23.81 per share, financial officer Chen Wan-ling (陳婉玲) said.
One of the top three industrial-park developers in the nation, TLDC has carried out 30 construction projects in different industrial parks with a combined area of 3,976 hectares over the past nine years, a company report showed.
Construction on another six projects are still underway, including efforts to build a “smart” and innovative industrial park in Taichung, the company said.
Its debt ratios stood at 77.17 percent in 2008, but dropped to 42.9 percent in 2015, Chen said.
TLDC shares yesterday edged up 0.46 percent to NT$11 in trading on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei.
The stock has increased 8.37 percent this year, compared with the broader market’s 6.43 percent rise over the period.
NO BREAKTHROUGH? More substantial ‘deliverables,’ such as tariff reductions, would likely be saved for a meeting between Trump and Xi later this year, a trade expert said China launched two probes targeting the US semiconductor sector on Saturday ahead of talks between the two nations in Spain this week on trade, national security and the ownership of social media platform TikTok. China’s Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain analog integrated circuits (ICs) imported from the US. The investigation is to target some commodity interface ICs and gate driver ICs, which are commonly made by US companies such as Texas Instruments Inc and ON Semiconductor Corp. The ministry also announced an anti-discrimination probe into US measures against China’s chip sector. US measures such as export curbs and tariffs
The US on Friday penalized two Chinese firms that acquired US chipmaking equipment for China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯國際), including them among 32 entities that were added to the US Department of Commerce’s restricted trade list, a US government posting showed. Twenty-three of the 32 are in China. GMC Semiconductor Technology (Wuxi) Co (吉姆西半導體科技) and Jicun Semiconductor Technology (Shanghai) Co (吉存半導體科技) were placed on the list, formally known as the Entity List, for acquiring equipment for SMIC Northern Integrated Circuit Manufacturing (Beijing) Corp (中芯北方積體電路) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corp (中芯北京), the US Federal Register posting said. The
India’s ban of online money-based games could drive addicts to unregulated apps and offshore platforms that pose new financial and social risks, fantasy-sports gaming experts say. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government banned real-money online games late last month, citing financial losses and addiction, leading to a shutdown of many apps offering paid fantasy cricket, rummy and poker games. “Many will move to offshore platforms, because of the addictive nature — they will find alternate means to get that dopamine hit,” said Viren Hemrajani, a Mumbai-based fantasy cricket analyst. “It [also] leads to fraud and scams, because everything is now
MORTGAGE WORRIES: About 34% of respondents to a survey said they would approach multiple lenders to pay for a home, while 29.2% said they would ask family for help New housing projects in Taiwan’s six special municipalities, as well as Hsinchu city and county, are projected to total NT$710.65 billion (US$23.61 billion) in the upcoming fall sales season, a record 30 percent decrease from a year earlier, as tighter mortgage rules prompt developers to pull back, property listing platform 591.com (591新建案) said yesterday. The number of projects has also fallen to 312, a more than 20 percent decrease year-on-year, underscoring weakening sentiment and momentum amid lingering policy and financing headwinds. New Taipei City and Taoyuan bucked the downturn in project value, while Taipei, Hsinchu city and county, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung