A leadership reshuffle within China Life Insurance Co (
Previously controlled by Koo Chen-fu (
"With support from Jeffrey Koo's Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託商銀), the insurer's stock price is likely to climb ...," former president of Wealth Magazine (財訊) Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) said yesterday, adding that the insurer's reassessment of assets also helped boost shareholder confidence.
The firm's stock price yesterday rose NT$0.45, or 6.4 percent, to NT$7.50. The insurer estimates it stock is worth NT$52.12, according to written statement release by the company.
The firm's board meeting on Wednesday accepted the resignations of two top officials, Koo Chen-fu and his son Chester Koo (辜啟允), who cited health concerns. It appointed Jeffrey Koo's son Koo Chung-li (辜仲立) and Yen Ho-yuan (顏和永) as its chairman and president respectively -- a move to strengthen Jeffrey Koo's grip on power.
The appointment of Koo Chung-li, 34 -- Jeffrey Koo's third oldest son -- represents his father's willingness to take over the insurer's problems after its former president Chester Koo took on debts of more than NT$50 billion, Hsieh said.
Moreover, the 74-year-old Yen, who was the insurer's vice chairman and vice president for more than four years, will assist the younger Koo with his 18 years of experience with the Koo Group (
Yen formerly served as chairman of Taiwan Fuji Xeros Corp (
Hsieh said that Jeffrey Koo, whose business in the financial sector is healthy and strong, is the only member of the Koo family -- one of Taiwan's richest families with business interests ranging from cement to communications -- who is capable of reviving the ailing insurer.
Since Jeffrey Koo has also placed his sons in key positions at Chinatrust and KGI Securities Co (中信證券), pundits said that the China Life reshuffle might signal plans to merge the insurer into a financial holding company that Chinatrust plans to set up -- speculation that the bank has denied.
"[The merger] is the main reason for the changes," said James Lin, who manages NT$ 1.2 billion (US $35 million) in stocks at Apollo Securities Investment Trust Co (阿波羅投信). "And from that perspective, it's positive for China Life."
Echoing Lin's view, Hsieh said that the leadership change at China Life showed that Koo Chen-fu planned to focus his business interests on the cement, cable television and communications sectors, while Jeffrey Koo would further expand his interests in the banking, securities and petrochemical industries.
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant