CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday raised concerns about legal violations following a report suggesting that several business leaders have formed an alliance to contest management control of the firm.
Ruentex Group (潤泰集團) chairman Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) is once again amassing shares in CTBC Financial in a bid to win seats on the board of directors in next year’s election, the Chinese-language Business Today weekly said yesterday in a report.
Yin has accumulated a 7 percent stake in CTBC Financial through a number of companies he controls, while CTBC Financial’s founding family, the Koos (辜), are expected to put up a proxy fight to preserve its influence, the report said.
CTBC Financial president Daniel Wu (吳一揆) said Yin might have failed to satisfy regulatory requirements on shareholding disclosure filings.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said that while it holds a neutral view on corporate takeovers, such moves require regulatory approval and must conform to the law.
Shareholdings of 5 percent must be disclosed and shareholdings of 10 percent require the commission’s approval, FSC Chairman Ding Kung-wha (丁克華) said.
“We look for tangible connections in the controlling interests behind each company,” Ding said, adding that shares held by life insurers are not granted voting rights by law.
The commission will examine the amount of CTBC Financial shares collectively held by Yin through subsidiaries and investment companies under his control, such as Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽), which has accumulated close to a 5 percent stake, it said.
The commission added that it has not yet received disclosure filings from Yin.
Yin’s vast business empire includes holdings in retail, finance, textile and biotechnology firms.
The tycoon’s latest cache of CTBC Financial shares are held by an NT$8 billion (US$254.36 million) investment company that was registered just three months ago and headed by former Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) chairman Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才), the report said.
As of last week, the company’s paid-in capital had swelled to NT$20 billion and become one of CTBC Financial’s top-five largest stakeholders, dwarfing the amount of shares held by investment companies controlled by the Koo family, the report said.
The report also said that Yin has teamed up with Lin Chen-hai (林陳海), chairman of Pau Jar Group (寶佳機構), a leading residential property developer.
Lin has investments in several financial companies and has influenced some of these firms’ decisions in the past, the report said.
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