The FAT Group (樺福遠航集團), parent company of Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (FAT, 遠東航空), yesterday said it would not interfere with the operation of COTA Commercial Bank (三信商銀) after the group won five seats on the lender’s board.
The primary purpose of taking seats on COTA’s board is to supervise the lender’s corporate governance and financial transparency, instead of undermining shareholders’ rights, FAT Group chairman Chang Kang-wei (張綱維) told a news conference.
“I have no knowledge of finance,” Chang said, adding that Far Eastern Air Transport is a more important investment for the group.
Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times
PROXY FIRMS
The group, which has accumulated a 4 percent stake in Taichung-headquartered COTA bank, secured five director seats on the bank’s 15-member board at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting yesterday with the help of proxy solicitation firms.
On Wednesday, the group expressed an interest in taking seats on the lender’s board, saying that it might be able to secure either three board of director seats or two independent director seats. Yesterday’s results beat the group’s and market’s expectations.
Asked if the FAT Group would increase its shareholding in COTA to more than 5 percent, Chang said it would be subject to the Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC) approval, adding that the group’s main business focus remains in the aviation sector.
CONCENTRATION
Despite Chang’s claims regarding the group’s role in COTA, the commission yesterday voiced concerns over the composition of the lender’s new board.
FSC Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) has said the government does not like to see financial institutions’ shares concentrated in the hands of a few industrial conglomerates, after an asset management unit of Pau Jar Group (寶佳機構) last month reportedly acquired a more than 5 percent stake in Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) and SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控).
Koo yesterday said COTA should submit detailed documents about its new board of directors within 10 days after the board election and that he would ask Chang to clarify doubts over the case soon.
SHAREHOLDERS
The commission would uphold its corporate governance standards and examine the qualifications of those board directors closely, Koo said, adding that the commission would take the operations of major shareholders’ core businesses into consideration.
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