Fri, Jun 05, 2009 page12

• Wang family closes ranks on board seats

  SHAREHOLDERS’ VOTE: Eldest son Winston Wong was cut out of the oil refiner’s board of directors, three weeks after he filed suit to secure control of his father’s estate

  • STAFF WRITER, WITH BLOOMBERG
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  Walter Wang (王文祥), a son of Formosa Plastics Group’s (FPG, 台塑集團) founder Wang Yung-ching (王永慶), was elected to the board of oil-refining unit Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday, ending speculation that his older brother Winston Wong (王文洋), who had held the seat, would return to the nation’s biggest diversified industrial group.

  Sister Susan Wang (王瑞華) and cousin Wilfred Wang (王文潮), chairman of Taipei-listed Formosa Petrochemical, were re-elected to the 15-member board during a shareholders meeting.

  The eldest Wang son, Winston, left his job as a senior vice president of Taipei-listed Nan Ya Plastics Corp (南亞塑膠), a Formosa unit, in November 1995 after media reports of an extramarital affair.

  

  Formosa Petrochemical Corp chairman Wilfred Wang, center, refuses to comment on the company’s board of directors election in Taipei yesterday.

  PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

  His father then “banished” him to the US.

  Winston founded Grace THW Group (宏仁企業集團) in Guangzhou, China, in 1996, which manufactures plastics and components for plates that hold semiconductors and other parts of electronic devices. The company is not affiliated with Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (宏力半導體), which he cofounded in China with a son of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) in 2000.

  The 58-year-old Winston filed suit in Newark, New Jersey, on May 13, seeking to manage his father’s fortune. Billionaire Wang Yung-ching died without a will at age 91 last October in New Jersey while on a trip to inspect the conglomerate’s US factories.

  Winston claims his father’s widow, Wang Yueh-lan (王月蘭), deserves half of the estate because they had been married since 1935.

  The couple had no children, though the billionaire had nine children with “female companions,” including the mother of Winston and Walter, papers filed in the suit state.

  The estate includes US$1.7 billion in assets in Taiwan, US$1 billion in a Credit Suisse Group AG account and US$7.5 billion in several offshore trusts and a US trust, the suit said.

  Winston was “unaware of any evidence” that his father had authorized the creation of those trusts, the suit said.

  Wilfred told reporters waiting for the results of the company’s board of directors election that the decision to replace Winston with Walter on the board was made after family discussions.

  “We respect the decision made by our siblings,” the local business news Web site cnYes.com quoted Wilfred as saying.

  He said, however, that he had no idea whether Walter would accept the seat.

  Winston’s absence may be better for the refiner, as his return might spark an internal power struggle, said Michael On (洪瑞泰), president of Taipei-based Beyond Asset Management Co (晉昂證券投顧).

  FPG is currently run by a seven-person executive board headed by Wang Yung-ching’s nephew William Wong (王文淵) and Susan Wang.

  There have been rumors that Winston wanted to use his position on Formosa Petrochemical’s board as a first step toward returning to FPG.

  Taipei-listed Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), the group’s polyvinyl chloride making unit, will elect its board of directors at its annual general meeting today.

  “I’m very nervous and worried about what Winston Wong may do next,” said Huang Hsueh-fen (黃雪芬), a Formosa Petrochemical shareholder who attended yesterday’s meeting.

  The refiner fell 1.3 percent in Taipei trading before the meeting to close at NT$82.

  Formosa Petrochemical’s profit plunged 78 percent last year after lower crude-oil prices cut the value of its inventories. Its stock has climbed 21 percent this year, compared with a 48 percent gain in the benchmark TAIEX.
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