In the first half of this year, local companies raised 16.52 percent less through secondary public offerings (SPO) than they did a year earlier, as trade tensions between the US and China have put a strain on new investments, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said on Thursday.
The NT$253.64 billion (US$8.17 billion) raised was the lowest in three years, compared with NT$271 billion in 2017 and NT$303 billion last year, FSC data showed.
An SPO is the sale of new shares by a company that has already made an initial public offering (IPO), Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) told a news conference.
The number of companies that conducted SPOs in the first six months dropped to 111, from 127 a year earlier, Tsai said, adding that 109 of the firms raised funds in Taiwan and two raised funds overseas.
The declines could be attributed to a higher comparison base last year, with Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) and Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) raising NT$42 billion and NT$40 billion last year respectively, she said.
More importantly, companies were being conservative due to the trade tensions, she said.
“Many companies told the Taiwan Stock Exchange that they held off raising new capital, as they were not sure whether to plan new investments with the trade war still affecting the global economy,” Tsai said.
In the first half of last year, 24 percent of companies conducted SPOs to raise funds for new investments, but the ratio plummeted to 4.71 percent this year, Tsai said, adding that funds raised for investment dropped from NT$69.1 billion to NT$11.9 billion.
Likewise, while 11 percent of companies raised capital to expand their production capacity in the first half of last year, 8.91 percent of companies did so this year, she said.
However, 60 percent of companies conducted SPOs to finance their debt — the most in past 10 years, Tsai said.
The amount of funds raised privately, such as through investments in private equity funds, declined to NT$18.8 billion from NT$42 billion a year earlier, but the FSC is not worried, as it does not encourage public companies to raise capital privately, Tsai said.
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS