Shares in Kindom Construction Corp (冠德建設) and affiliated Kedge Construction Co (根基營造) yesterday held stable as the two companies said the death of their founder and former chairman Timothy Ma (馬玉山) would not affect their operations.
Ma on Thursday passed away in the hospital. He was 83.
Ma’s death came one week after he yielded his leadership positions at all subsidiaries to his children. He has a son and two daughters.
“Kindom and all business affiliates maintain normal operations and will carry on with all contracts and projects,” company spokesman Sean Chang (張勝安) said by telephone.
The company declined to comment on Ma’s illness or death. Local media yesterday reported that the property tycoon died of a cold that turned into acute pneumonia.
“All reports are purely media speculation ... I don’t know the cause myself and was told to stay mum,” Chang said.
He would not comment on funeral arrangements.
Kindom and Kedge are due to update their earnings results on Tuesday next week. The investors’ conferences are to take place as scheduled, but are to be closed to the media, as the successors prefer to stay out of the spotlight, he said.
The boards of Kindom and Kedge on Friday last week approved the appointment of Mike Ma (馬志綱) and Miriam Ma (馬銘嬭), the late Ma’s only son and second daughter, to steer Kindom and Kege, according to stock exchange filings.
The board of Global Mall (環球購物中心), another business interest of Timothy Ma, on Thursday evening elected Mike Ma as head of the department store, a stock filing said.
Shares in Kindom gained 2.17 percent to NT$18.8 yesterday, while shares in Kedge edged up 0.26 percent to NT$19.3, compared with a 0.72 percent increase in the TAIEX, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Construction stocks have underperformed the main index, and Kindom and Kedge have proved no exception.
Kingdom and Kedge have nearly NT$100 billion (US$3.32 billion) worth of projects in the pipeline, most of them in New Taipei City, which would serve as stable sources of business and profitability over the next eight to 10 years, analysts said.
Global Mall has seven outlets across Taiwan, with the outlets in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) and inside the Banciao MRT station being the most profitable, they said.
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