Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday signed an agreement to acquire the KG Telecommunications Co (和信電訊) through a cash-and-stock swap deal, creating the nation's second-biggest mobile-phone network after a NT$30 billion bid failed earlier this year.
The proposed merger between the nation's third and fourth largest telecom operators will combine 7.75 million subscribers, the companies said in a statement.
"We have reached an agreement with Far EasTone this afternoon following board approvals from the two companies," May Wu (吳美慧), public relations manager at KG Telecom, said yesterday.
Under the agreement, each KG Telecom shareholder will receive NT$6.72 in cash and 0.46332 Far EasTone shares for each KG Telecom share. In total, KG Telecom shareholders will receive approximately 806 million Far EasTone shares and about NT$11.7 billion in cash, Wu said.
"The combined company will ... leverage the advantages of both companies to capture maximum potential synergies," Far EasTone chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) said in a statement.
Far EasTone's preliminary agreement to buy KG Telecom lapsed in late August after it was unable to deliver an extension proposal by KG's deadline.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
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TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
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