Want Want China Holdings Ltd (中國旺旺控股) announced yesterday that its chairman, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), and his family had agreed to acquire financially troubled local media syndicate China Times Group (中時集團).
The China Times Group confirmed the sale in a statement late last night.
The surprise announcement came amid speculation that Hong Kong’s Next Media Group (壹傳媒) was in talks to take over the nearly six-decade-old group, one of the country’s biggest.
Want Want China is the Hong Kong-listed unit of Taiwan’s Want Want Group (旺旺集團), the nation’s biggest rice cake and flavored drinks maker. The company makes about 90 percent of its revenue by selling rice crackers, snacks and drinks such as Hot-Kid milk in China.
“The Tsai clan plans to make the investment via a holding company wholly owned by the family, rather than using company funds. It is a personal investment of the Tsai family,” Want Want China said in a statement on its Web site.
Want Want China said it had no plans to invest in the media group, nor to take over operations after the deal is completed, the statement said.
The company did not provide financial details about the acquisition. Calls to company spokesman Everett Chu’s (朱紀文) office in Shanghai went unanswered yesterday.
Shares of Want Want China dropped 1.41 percent to HK$2.78 yesterday on the Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing Ltd.
The media-purchase deal was first reported by the Chinese-language Economic Daily News yesterday, which said Want Want had inked a memorandum of understanding with the China Times Group on Sunday to take over the Taiwanese media conglomerate for about NT$20.4 billion (US$621 million).
The deal would allow Want Want to own a 51 percent stakes in the group, the report said.
On Oct. 30, the same newspaper said Next Media — controlled by Jimmy Lai (黎智英) — was negotiating to buy the China Times Group and planned to make a formal announcement on Monday, citing unnamed industry sources.
The China Times Group, headed by Albert Yu (余建新), is undergoing a restructuring to stem constant losses.
It owns the Chinese-language newspapers China Times and Commercial Times, the China Times Weekly (時報週刊) and the CTI TV (中天電視) and China Television Co (中視) networks.
Separately, Want Want said parent company Hot-Kid Holdings Ltd intended to sell Taiwan depositary receipts backed by shares in the company this year.
In the middle of last month, Hot-Kid filed a proposal to sell a maximum of 250 million of outstanding Want Want shares, or 1.89 percent, for local investors.
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
DIVIDED VIEWS: Although the Fed agreed on holding rates steady, some officials see no rate cuts for this year, while 10 policymakers foresee two or more cuts There are a lot of unknowns about the outlook for the economy and interest rates, but US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled at least one thing seems certain: Higher prices are coming. Fed policymakers voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, as they await clarity on whether tariffs would leave a one-time or more lasting mark on inflation. Powell said it is still unclear how much of the bill would fall on the shoulders of consumers, but he expects to learn more about tariffs
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RSS