BANKING
CTBC to buy Taiwan Life
CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday said a majority of its shareholders had approved the company’s plans to acquire Taiwan Life Insurance Co (台灣人壽). Under the terms of the deal, CTBC Financial would make Taiwan Life a wholly-owned entity through a share swap scheme by trading each Taiwan Life share for 1.44 shares in CTBC Financial. Shares of CTBC closed at NT$19.7 yesterday on the local bourse, meaning that the Taiwan Life deal could cost the company NT$25.74 billion (US$858.5 million). Shareholders yesterday also agreed to a proposal for the company’s banking subsidiary, CTBC Bank (中信銀行), to buy a 98.16 percent stake in Japan’s Tokyo Star Bank for ￥52 billion (US$497.74 million), CTBC Financial said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Property
Fair value gets go-ahead
The Financial Supervisory Commission on Thursday gave the go-ahead for the use of fair value by domestic life insurers in appraising their property investments, starting next year. Taiwanese life insurers that opt for mark-to-market accounting rules are subject to higher reserve requirements and must hire two different property institutes to carry out the reappraisal, the commission said in a statement. The fair-value principle may not be used on undeveloped plots of land unless the insurers acquire construction permits for their development, the commission said.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
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