Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), China’s biggest packaged food maker, has acquired a stake of almost 20 percent in Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC, 台北金融大樓公司), which owns Taipei 101.
Ting Hsin, which owns Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品) and the instant-noodle brand Master Kong (康師傅), bought 19.51 percent of TFCC’s shares from China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發) for NT$3.735 billion (US$113.5 million), or NT$13 per share, a TFCC official said.
TFCC assistant vice president and spokesman Michael Liu (劉家豪) said the two sides inked a deal on Monday night that would make Ting Hsin the company’s largest private shareholder.
The government remains the biggest shareholder, controlling a 40 percent stake in the company. That allows it to have five board director’s seats as well as two independent director’s seats.
Liu said the transaction would not alter the firm’s operations or the makeup of its board.
The Ministry of Finance said it was not in a position to comment on the transfer of private shares. It said the government would seek to retain control of TFCC and appoint its chairman and president.
“Many felt Taipei 101 was not a good investment, so selling the stake for a profit bodes well with the investors,” Sinopac Securities Corp analyst Julie Chu said.
Meanwhile, the committee of the Financial Restructuring Fund (金融重建基金), which owns a 15 percent stake in TFCC, will seek the right time to liquidate its shares, a Financial Supervisory Commission official said yesterday.
Jean Chiu (邱淑貞), the chief secretary of the commission’s banking bureau, said that the fund would not hold any assets for long-term investments.
If the fund is to release the stake, it will hire financial consultants to price the shares in accordance with market conditions, she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JOYCE HUANG
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS