A financial regulator said yesterday that the permission for approval of China Development Holding Corp's (中華開發金控) takeover bid for Taiwan International Securities Corp (金鼎證券) is set to expire [tomorrow].
"Our permission runs out on Oct. 21, and not the end of this year as reported," Gary Tseng (
Under time pressure, China Development has been stepping up its share purchasing lately, in the hope of securing majority control in Taiwan International.
The amount China Development has can be translated to more than a 50 percent stake, based on Taiwan International's recent share price, Tseng said, who declined to give a figure.
The trading volumes in Taiwan Financial shares shot up to 11.92 million shares and 16.21 million shares on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. The volume decreased to 5.43 million shares, or about a 0.5 percent stake, yesterday, according to data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
As of Wednesday, China Development's holding in the brokerage had risen to 48.07 percent after it bought a further 4.61 percent stake during the previous two trading days, the company said.
The holding firm reportedly wanted to boost its shareholding to more than 50 percent in Taiwan International by the deadline. As the largest shareholder, China Development also planned to convene an ad hoc general meeting in a bid to shake-up the board and take overall control of Taiwan International.
China Development spokesperson Sherie Chiu (
China Development launched a hostile takeover for Taiwan International earlier this year, and won four of its nine board seats at an annual shareholders meeting in May.
The hostile takeover bid has cost China Development nearly NT$10 billion (US$301 million) so far, including NT$4 billion spent on the acquisition of Global Securities Finance Corp (環華證金), in order to undermine a four-way merger organized by Taiwan International and prevent holdings dilution, sources close to the deal said.
Taiwan International once turned to Legacy Partners Group, hoping the US white knight could help head off the acquisition attempt, but to no avail.
"They wanted to obtain a 50 percent to 70 percent stake, which cannot be achieved if China Development does not offload part of its holdings," Taiwan International's public realtions officer Steve Chang (張貴智) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
And it is possible that China Development will not manage it, he said.
Chang declined to comment on any possible countermeasures, but said that they will leverage public opinion against China Development's moves.
Taiwan International accused China Development of being involved in illegal trading during the takeover investment process in a statement released yesterday, which has seriously damaged the rights and interests of the financial group's shareholders.
China Development's president Angelo Koo (辜仲瑩) is son of Jeffery Koo (辜濂松), who chairs Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控). The Koo family and Chinatrust Financial are in a shaky situation as they are under investigation concerning the company's disputed takeover attempt for Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控).
The Financial Supervisory Commission launched a financial inspection of China Development on Wednesday, which the regulator yesterday said was in response to questions from the public.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS