Government hopes to sell off firms

The commission plans to sell other companies on its slate by negotiating directly with corporate buyers or by breaking them up and selling individual assets.

Last year, the government sold all of Taiwan Machinery Manufacturing Corp (台灣機械) and Taiwan Chung Hsing Paper Corp (中興紙業) to corporate investors for about NT$3.6 billion.

It's still seeking buyers for controlling stakes in Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔航空), maker of parts for the Indigenous Fighter Jet; Kaohsiung Ammonium Sulfate Co (高雄硫酸亞); and Taiwan Agricultural & Industrial Development Corp (台灣農工).

To prepare the firms for sale, the commission has been paring their costs and firing staff to make them more competitive and more attractive to investors.

Chinese Petroleum, Taiwan Power and Taiwan Sugar Corp (台糖) will collectively cut about 1,900 workers this year, said David Chen (陳智宏), a liaison officer at the commission. Last year, the agency fired 5,461 workers, two-fifths of them at China Shipbuilding Corp (中船).