Taiwan Star Telecom Co (台灣之星) is to obtain a fresh capital injection of NT$342 million (US$11.42 million) from its investors, including the nation’s biggest private fund, KHL Capital (達勝投資), as it looks to continue to compete in the nation’s 5G spectrum auction.
Local telecoms are competing fiercely for chunks of the 5G spectrum, with total bids reaching NT$132.517 billion as of the end of the 250th session yesterday.
The bids are three times higher than the floor price of NT$44 billion set by the Legislative Yuan, making the nation’s 5G spectrum one of the most expensive in the world.
The National Communications Commission has set the floor price at NT$30 billion, while the Executive Yuan has set a goal to receive NT$40 billion.
“KHL has decided to invest in Taiwan Star via a subscription for the company’s common shares and corporate bonds, as it is bullish about 5G prospects and the huge business opportunities it brings,” Taiwan Star said in a statement on Monday.
KHL is to become one of Taiwan Star’s top three shareholders along with Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) and Cathay Real Estate Development Co (國泰建設).
Taiwan Star said the new capital would help boosts its financial strength and give it more leeway to vie for 5G spectrum bandwidth in the auction.
The firm last year raised NT$4 billion via a rights issue and obtained NT$5.1 billion in loans.
KHL, cofounded by fund chairman Gary Kuo (郭冠群), has agreed to subscribe to 162 million new shares and NT$1.8 billion in corporate bonds via its investment arm KHL Investment I Ltd (達勝壹甲壹投資) and two other local funds.
KHL Capital is the largest shareholder of the nation’s biggest cable TV operator, China Network Systems Co (CNS, 中嘉網路).
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last