Far EasTone to sell stake
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), Taiwan’s third-largest telephone operator, expects to complete the sale of a 12 percent stake to China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) after Taiwan and China sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), Far EasTone chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) said in an interview yesterday.
“If the Taiwanese government and China are aggressive, we can probably do it after ECFA; three to five months,” Hsu said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Maybe, hopefully, within six months to a year, at most.”
Hsu on June 16 said he expected the deal to be approved by Chinese and Taiwanese authorities by the end of the year.
ECFA will lift growth: economist
An ECFA will help Taiwan achieve sustained economic growth once it is signed, an economist with the UN said on Thursday.
Nagesh Kumar, chief and top economist of the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division under the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), said in an interview that China is the fastest-growing economy in the world and that Asia-Pacific countries will benefit as a result.
Earlier on Thursday at its Bangkok headquarters, ESCAP released its “Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2010,” in which it forecast 4.5 percent economic growth for Taiwan.
Flextronics revenue to grow
Flextronics International Ltd expects revenue from its laptop and server division to climb 50 percent to 100 percent this year, Ken Kan, vice president for notebook engineering, said in Taipei yesterday.
The unit, a supplier to Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc, posted NT$150 billion (US$4.726 billion) in revenue last year, Kan said.
The company is trying to secure orders from Acer Inc (宏碁), the world’s largest notebook vendor, he said.
Fubon sells debentures
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) said its banking unit sold NT$6 billion of debentures to help meet funding demands.
The bank will pay annual interest of 1.6 percent on the NT$5.5 billion of five-year notes and 1.7 percent on the NT$500 million of seven-year debt, Fubon Financial said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.
DBS profits rise 23 percent
Singaporean lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd (星展集團) said quarterly profit rose 23 percent because of higher stock broking and investment banking income and an improving loan portfolio.
Southeast Asia’s largest bank yesterday reported earnings of S$532 million (US$379 million) for the three months ended March 31, compared with S$433 million a year earlier.
Revenue rose 10 percent, the bank said.
“We’ve taken steps to strengthen our wealth management and small and medium businesses,” DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta said in a statement.
“DBS has had good momentum so far,” Gupta said.
NT dollar plummets
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday had its biggest weekly drop in more than a year as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis prompted investors to shun emerging-market assets and favor US dollars.
The NT dollar fell 1.4 percent this week to NT$31.850 against its US counterpart at the 4pm local closing time, Taipei Forex Inc said.
That was the biggest weekly drop since February last year.
The TAIEX slipped for a ninth day, the longest losing streak since 2005.
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