Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-largest telecoms service provider, plans to sell a 12 percent stake to China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) for NT$17.77 billion (US$528 million), the company said in a statement yesterday. The news came as the FSC said yesterday Chinese institutional investors would be allowed to apply to invest in Taiwan’s equity market, beginning today.
Far EasTone plans to issue 444 million new shares through a private placement and China Mobile will subscribe to these shares by paying NT$40 per share, the Taipei-based company said.
The two companies also announced plans to form a strategic alliance, involving joint equipment purchases, the development of roaming services and technology upgrades in telecom networks.
The deal is still subject to regulatory approval in Taiwan as well as China, but an analyst welcomed the deal, saying the purchase would be the first direct investment by a Chinese state-owned company in Taiwan in six decades.
The transaction could spur the signing of financial memorandums of understanding in the near future as the cross-strait relationship improves, the analyst said.
“Both sectors are considered politically sensitive, so if a telcoms operator can sell a stake to the PRC, why not a bank?” Peter Kurz, head of Taiwan equity research at Citigroup Global Markets, wrote in a client note yesterday.
Also See: Yiin details Chinese investment plan
Also See: Markets to be opened to Chinese firms
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique