Yen to go on investor roadshow in June

Faced with a slowing economy and lackluster investor sentiment, local finance officials are seeing salvation in the international financial capitals of the world.

In an unprecedented move, officials from the Ministry of Finance (財政部) and the Securities and Futures Commission (證期會) are expected to go on a roadshow to international capitals to woo foreign investors to Taiwan.

Finance Minister Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) said his latest trip, organized in association with the investment bank C. S. First Boston, is expected to inject at least US$15 billion to US$20 billion into the Taiwanese financial markets by the first half of next year.

The move signals a highly pro-active stance towards foreign investors -- which currently invest as much as NT$30 billion in Taiwan.

Many securities firms and investment banks, most of which are the biggest names in financial markets, are vying to sponsor a part of the trip which will take Yen, top finance officials and the heads of at least ten high-tech companies to brief investors from London to New York.

Yen said the heads of US-tech laden Nasdaq is interested in meeting with him while in New York to discuss possibilities of cooperation between high-tech intensive Nasdaq and the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

Insiders said that the government's initiative will assist investors in understanding the government's pro-business policy, although many investors would be eager to hear more new announcements from the government.

Meanwhile, the government, apart from meeting with institutional investors, will also arrange meetings with heads of leading corporations in these capitals.

"Apart from the foreign portfolio investment, foreign direct investment is also quite an important issue," said one analyst familiar with the schedule of the trip, which will begin on June 25 until July 6.

So far, the finance ministry said, during the 10-day trip, it will hold "Taiwan Investment Forums" in six European metropolises, namely, Milan, London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Zurich.

The financial retinue -- which will include representatives from the Securities Futures Commission, the Bureau of Monetary Affairs, the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taiwan Futures Exchange -- will also hold investment seminars in Tokyo, Singapore, New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

Sources said several local securities firms are also bidding to co-sponsor part of the trip, during which officials will speak directly to the world's leading investors. The government, which last year lifted the ceiling on combined ownership of domestic listed companies by foreign institutions, is going out of its way to attract foreign investors -- or Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) and General Institutional Investors.

Overseas investors have hitherto remained relatively optimistic over the outlook of the Taiwanese equities compared to their domestic counterparts. Foreign institutional investors has remitted a total of US$4.2 billion so far this year. Yesterday, global investors bought a net total of NT$4.3 billion in domestic equities on hopes that the local economy may recover in the second half.