The Development Bank of Singapore (DBS,
"The DBS agreed to take over Bowa in return for a payment of NT$44.5 billion [US$138 million]," the CDIC said in a press statement yesterday.
The parties are expected to sign a contract on Monday afternoon, the release said.
The deal excludes a portion of the bank's bad loans, which were sold on Thursday. Payment will come from the government's financial restructuring fund.
The DBS yesterday beat EnTie Commercial Bank (安泰銀行) and Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) to acquire Bowa. It became the third foreign bank to take over a failed Taiwanese lender through a government-organized auction, following HSBC's (匯豐銀行) take-over of The Chinese Bank (中華銀行) and ABN AMRO Bank's acquisition of Taitung Business Bank (台東企銀).
Although the three rounds of direct price negotiations with the buyer's 15-member team lasted all day yesterday, from 9:30am to 5pm, CDIC president Howard Wang (王南華) said that the lengthy negotiations were rewarding.
"We are happy about the results," Wang said, adding that the DBS had previously asked for a payment of NT$50 billion from the government's fund.
After auctioning off two bad-loan packages for NT$2.8 billion on Thursday, Bowa Bank still had NT$38.6 billion in losses, he said, saying it is a pretty good deal.
Wang said that most of Bowa Bank's 700,000 saving accounts are held by small and medium businesses that have investments in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam.
As a leading player in the region, the DBS will be able to expand its clientele base in Asian markets by providing services to Taiwanese businesses, Wang said.
The DBS, which is also interested in the wealth management business, will further expand into the field through Bowa's existing 39 branches nationwide, Wang said.
The DBS will be entitled to change the locations of 19 of the branches.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan is open to joining a global liquefied natural gas (LNG) program if one is created, but on the condition that countries provide delivery even in a scenario where there is a conflict with China, an energy department official said yesterday. While Taiwan’s priority is to have enough LNG at home, the nation is open to exploring potential strategic reserves in other countries such as Japan or South Korea, Energy Administration Deputy Director-General Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said. While the LNG market does not have a global reserve for emergencies like that of oil, the concept has been raised a few times —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
RSS