Nanya to borrow NT$20 billion
Nanya Technology Co (南亞科技), Taiwan's second-largest memory-chip maker, plans to borrow NT$20 billion (US$609 million) through a syndicated loan in the fourth quarter to fund expansion.
Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) and Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) are among possible managers of the loan, said Moor Chen (陳宏模), a spokesman at Taoyuan-based Nanya, confirming a report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times yesterday.
Nanya had NT$46.3 billion in cash at the end of March and has NT$42 billion in outstanding loans and bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The stock climbed 2.3 percent to close at NT$26.40 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
Government to sell shares
In line with the government's privatization policy, the Ministry of Finance plans to offload 45 million shares, or a 9.11 percent stake, in the Central Reinsurance Corp (中央再保險公司) by the end of the year. The share sale is expected to bring NT$700 million (US$21.3 million) into state coffers, the National Treasury Agency said.
Next year, the ministry will divest its remaining holding of around 70 million shares, or 14.17 percent of the company, to completely step aside from the reinsurer's operations.
At that time, Evergreen Group (長榮集團) will become the firm's sole major shareholder.
Former Fubon officer detained
Former Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) chief investment officer Daniel Chiang (蔣國樑) was detained by the Taipei District Court last night after prosecutors appealed for a second time the court's previous ruling to release him on bail.
The court decided to put Chiang in custody amid concerns that he might destroy or falsify evidence, or collude with others.
Chiang was released last Friday on NT$5 million bail after being questioned by Taipei prosecutors about allegations of insider trading. The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office filed an appeal with the Taiwan High Court to overturn the district court's decision.
Prosecutors say Chiang encouraged friends to buy Hsinchu International Bank shares before the announcement of its planned acquisition by Standard Chartered Bank last September -- earning more than NT$100 million from the trades.
Paradigm sold US holdings
Paradigm US Financial Asset Securitization Fund, one of two high-yield Taiwan funds, said it sold holdings with investments in subprime US home loans last month at a loss to meet requests for redemptions.
The sale was also to avoid further losses should default rates rise on home loans to riskier borrowers, according to a statement from Taipei-based Paradigm Asset Management Co (華頓投信) late last month. The fund, which invests mainly in US securities backed by mortgages and other assets, now owns only investment-grade securities rated AAA or above, the statement said.
Assets managed by the fund fell to NT$1.4 billion on June 30 from NT$4.5 billion at its founding on Nov. 9 of last year, data from the Securities Investment Trust & Consulting Association show. The association will disclose last month's assets of Taiwanese mutual funds within two weeks.
Foreign exchange reserves up
Foreign exchange reserves totaled US$266.29 billion at the end of last month, up slightly from US$266.05 billion a month ago, due to continued foreign capital inflow and interest income, central bank figures showed yesterday.
Taiwan is ranked fourth in the world in terms of the amount of the foreign exchange reserves, after China, Japan and Russia.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
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