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Unique Group wins bid for TTV stake

The Unique Group (非凡國際科技) yesterday won the bid to purchase a majority stake in the Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) with a NT$1.74 billion (US$53 million) offer for the state-run TV company.

"The Unique Group won the bid by offering NT$24.1 per share [for TTV]," Cabinet spokeswoman Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said.

To officially become the major shareholder of TTV, Chen said the group has to ink a formal deal with the government on Friday and then receive authorization from the National Communications Commission. The entire deal is expected to be completed within a month.

The public auction was carried out at the headquarters of Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫) at 11am yesterday.

The entire process was open to the public, with a live broadcast to the press.

The Unique Group won the right to purchase 25.77 percent of TTV's shares and become the major shareholder of the TV station.

There were initially five competitors for the bid. However, Dafeng TV Ltd withdrew from the bid late last night as its foreign holding disqualified it.

Chen said that other companies which took part in the bidding were: ERA Communications Co (年代網際), which offered NT$23.02 per share; Hung Pang Construction Co (鴻邦建設), which proposed NT$22.68; and Want Want Group (旺旺集團), which offered NT$22.31.

The Unique Group, which operates two TV stations that mainly broadcast local business news and programs, said that it would take advantage of TTV's current manpower and resources to expand its business in the TV industry.

"Viewers can expect an additional six channels after we've combined our manpower and resources from the two TV stations that the group now owns. We are expecting a bigger market for our channels," said Deng Mei-hua (鄧美華), the group's deputy general manager.

Deng also said that the 25.77-percent stake purchase, in addition to the group's original 14 percent holding in TTV, would make it the "major among major" shareholders of TTV.

Deng added that the group has no plans to further expand its holding in TTV in the near future.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍), who had accused the government of trying to rig bidding in favor of Hung Pang Construction Co, yesterday said she was "surprised" at the outcome.

Democratic Progressive Party legislative caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) told a press conference that the result of the bidding showed that the government did not interfere with the bidding as opposition lawmakers had charged.

Opposition lawmakers should also apologize to Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), the former director of the Government Information Office, who stepped down over accusations of interference in the bidding, Wang added.

Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Huang Chung-yung (黃宗源) said as long as the principles of impartiality and fairness were observed during the tendering of the bid, whichever enterprise won the bid would meet public expectations.

As for whether it would be appropriate for the Unique Group to offer former TTV chairman Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲) a managerial position in TTV, Hung said the company had the right to hire whoever it considered suitable.

Lai stepped down last month because he had applied to the National Communications Commission to purchase 4.8 percent of the TTV shares owned by three Japanese firms, raising fears that his move could affect the auction's outcome.

"If the Unique Group recognizes Lai's professional background, it has the right to hire him as chairman. Besides, Lai has five or six years of experience as TTV's chairman," Huang said, dismissing media speculation that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) -- Lai's father-in-law -- had interfered in the bidding process to help the Unique Group, which was supported by Lai, win the tender.

After selling 25.77 percent of TTV's shares to the Unique Group, the government will divest its remaining 21.6 percent in the state-run TV station to the public later this year.

"As it takes four to six months to conduct a public share sale, we expect the government's stockholding in TTV to drop to zero by the end of November at the earliest," Vice Minister of Finance Liu Teng-cheng (劉燈城) said yesterday.

At that time, TTV's board will hold a new election for its 15 directors and five supervisors, he said.

The government currently controls eight board seats and three supervisory seats through state-run financial institutions.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang and Jackie Lin
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