Mitsukoshi buys land
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越百貨) purchased one of three parcels of land located in the Hsinyi commercial district in eastern Taipei in a government-held auction on Thursday.
The nearly 2,000-ping parcel of land on Sungkao Road sold for NT$3.43 billion, according to Su Wei-chen (蘇維成), secretary general of the National Property Bureau, under the Ministry of Finance.
The closing price was 35 percent off compared to the bidding price at its first auction and Shin Kong chairman Wu Tung-hsing (吳東興) said he was upbeat about the bargain.
Su said the sale may indicate the real estate sector begins to show signs of life.
Shin Kong has three stores in the district with the third store expected to open early next year.
First Financial to buy Mingtai
First Financial Holding Co (第一金控), owner of Taiwan's fourth-biggest bank by assets, will acquire National Investment Trust Co (建弘投信) and unlisted Mingtai Fire & Marine Insurance Co (明台產險) via a share swap.
First Financial also will take over affiliate First Taisec Securities Inc (第一證券), according to First Financial.
China Development to sell bonds
China Development Financial Holding Corp (中華開發金控), Taiwan's fourth-largest financial holding company by market value, plans to sell NT$25 billion (US$719 million) of bonds this year.
China Development will seek approval from the Ministry of Finance for the sale, proceeds of which will help fund its lending, investment and other capital requirements, the company said in a statement, without elaborating.
The company joins others in Taiwan tapping falling borrowing costs to raise funds. Taiwan's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low 1.625 percent on March 20, after 14 cuts between December 2000 and November last year.
Taiwan Life buys Zurich's funds
Taiwan Life Asset Management Co (台灣人壽資產管理) paid a nominal NT$1 (US$0.029) to take over mutual funds managed by Zurich Financial Services AG in Taiwan, the Commercial Times reported, citing no one.
The unit of Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽) bought four mutual funds worth a combined NT$1.2 billion (US$34 million) from the Swiss company, which is exiting the asset-management business globally, the newspaper said.
The Taiwan Life Insurance unit won a bid to take of the funds, partly because of the addition of Long Bon Development Co (龍邦建設), a real estate developer, as its shareholder, helping to improve the unit's finances, the newspaper said.
Taiwan Life didn't reveal the actual price of the fund purchases, the report said.
AIDC gets quality approval
The state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔) announced Thursday the AS 9100 quality approval certificate by the Canada-based Quality Management Institute (QMI), saying that it will be a big boost to its future product deliveries and sales.
The globally recognized and accepted quality approval certification will help the AIDC obtain a larger number of orders from world leading aircraft makers including Boeing, Bombardier, Airbus, Gear and Dassault, and deliver its products without going through separate and irregular quality approval tests, a spokesman for the company said.
NT dollar falls
The NT dollar yesterday traded lower against its US counterpart, dropping NT$0.002 to close at NT$34.792 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$500 million.
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