Asia Plastic Recycling Holding Ltd (APR, 亞塑再生), which recycles plastic to make ethylene-vinyl acetate foam in China, yesterday said it will today file criminal charges against Glaucus Research Group California LLC for allegedly manipulating its share price.
“We have noticed that there were many irregular short selling orders filed before April 24, when Glaucus intentionally issued a report based on partial information against Asia Plastic,” Gary Hung (洪紹恆), a partner at Chien Yeh Law Offices (建業法律事務所), which provides legal services for APR, told reporters yesterday.
According to Hung, Glaucus violated Article 155 of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) by spreading rumors or false information with the intention of influencing the securities trading in Taiwan.
Shares of APR plummeted by the daily maximum limit over two consecutive sessions to close on NT$74.9 on Friday after Glaucus issued a report on Thursday claiming that APR has overstated its profit, revenue and capital expenditure.
With APR’s outstanding loans of NT$3.62 billion (US$119.52 million), Glaucus said in the report that the company’s share price should be zero.
On Saturday, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman William Tseng (曾銘宗) said the company had launched an investigation into APR and launched a probe into whether the US-based short seller was involved in manipulation of the Taiwanese firm’s shares.
Incorporated in the Cayman Islands, APR recycles plastic bags and waste scraps to produce foam rubber products in China’s Fujian Province.
SUPPORT
To support its diving shares, APR is to implement a share buyback scheme from today over the next two months.
APR chairman Ting Chin-tsao (丁金造) said yesterday that the company and his family plan to purchase 1 million shares at between NT$60 and NT$90 each on the open market.
“Although we do not understand much about international short selling practice, we have a clear idea about the industry and our technology,” Ting said.
“We believe time will prove everything,” he added.
Citing tax records on a Chinese local government’s Web site, Glaucus suggests that the company’s profit was exaggerated 10 times because it paid taxes of only 28 million yuan to 80 million yuan (US$4.48 million and US$12.79 million) from 2010 through last year, which was 96 to 88 percent less than the amount of profit APR reported in Taiwan.
However, APR senior manager Gary Wang (王維民) said the tax records cited by Glaucus were only an estimate conducted by the local government.
The real amount of taxes paid by another company listed outside China on these records was six times higher than the estimate made in 2010 and three times higher than that of 2011, Wang said, without specifying which company.
INSPECTION
To help clarify the issue, APR yesterday brought all tax payment documents to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp for inspection.
Deloitte Taiwan partner Wu Chiu-yen (吳秋燕) said APR paid 397 million yuan in taxes from 2010 through last year.
“APR passed the auditing process conducted by accountants from Deloitte Taiwan, who went to China to check the company onsite,” Wu said.
Meanwhile, commenting on APR’s 33 percent earnings before the interest-and-tax margin, which is higher than 7 percent for other Chinese companies making ethylene-vinyl acetate foam, chief financial officer Mark Hsueh (薛又瑋) said the company is the only one that can produce ethylene-vinyl acetate foam from plastic scraps.
APR added that Ting’s family, the company’s management and employees had not traded APR’s shares between April 9 and April 16, when about 1.88 million shares changed hands.
Last year, Ting Chin-kuang (丁金礦), the chairman’s younger brother, sold some of his shares in APR to fund Jinfada (Fujian) Shoes Plastic Co (金發達), which the younger Ting founded, Hsueh said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km