FPG names acting chairman
Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團) on Friday said that group chairman William Wong (王文淵) would act as chairman of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼廠) during the transitional period, after former chairman Lin Hsin-i (林信義) of the Vietnamese steelmaking unit tendered his resignation on July 23.
The group said it had invited former China Steel Corp (CSC, 中鋼) president Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) to serve as vice chairman and chief executive officer of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel. Chen retired as president of China Steel in January 2010.
Formosa has spent about US$10 billion on the Vietnamese project, which the conglomerate says will be capable of producing 700 million tonnes of steel a year when completed.
China Steel, the nation’s only integrated steelmaker, has a 5 percent stake in Formosa Ha Tinh Steel.
Recruitment a challenge: survey
Forty-five percent of Taiwanese employers said in a survey they find recruitment very challenging due to a shortage of talented workers, according to the results released on Saturday.
Human resources firm ManpowerGroup said nearly half of the 1,071 respondents in Taiwan expressed frustration during its survey conducted in January to examine employment conditions worldwide.
Among the 42 countries and regions surveyed, Taiwan ranked fifth in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of “talent shortages,” the survey said.
Japan, India, New Zealand and Hong Kong were ahead of Taiwan in the region, it said.
Taiwan ranked 15th worldwide.
Rapid industry transformation in the nation and a brain drain could be the reason behind the difficulties in finding talented workers, the survey said.
BrightKing files with TWSE
China-based electronics components supplier BrightKing Holdings Ltd (君耀控股) has filed an application with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) to seek a primary listing on the main board.
The TWSE said on Saturday that BrightKing has paid-in capital of NT$308 million (US$10.27 million) and is planning to issue 4.106 million new shares for the listing.
The company is expected to raise NT$266.89 million from the new share sale since it has tentatively set the issue price at NT$65, the TWSE said.
BrightKing operates a broad production base in China, specializing in the design and production of a wide range of electronics components, including transient voltage suppressors, metal oxide varistors, spark gap protectors and gas discharge tubes.
Last year, BrightKing posted NT$121 million in net profit, down from NT$126 million recorded a year earlier, on consolidated sales of NT$1.52 billion. Its earnings per share stood at NT$4.97 last year compared with NT$8.48 a year earlier.
Bank opens Tianjin branch
Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行), the banking unit of Taiwan Cooperative Financial Holding Co (合作金控), on Friday opened a branch in Tianjin, China, after it set up a branch in Suzhou in December 2010 and established a sub-branch in the Suzhou’s Gaoxin District in October last year.
The bank is gearing up to prepare the establishment of a branch in Fuzhou, China, in the first quarter of next year.
Meanwhile, the bank is also planning to open two sub-branches of its Phnom Penh branch in Cambodia and set up a representative office in Myanmar.
In addition to its expansion in Asia, the bank hopes to open a branch in New York by the end of next year.
Summit to focus on 4G
The Taipei International Digital Content Summit is to be held on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, with a main focus on fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband applications in the digital content industry, said the Taipei Computer Association, one of the organizers.
Discussion topics will range from mobile videos to cloud-based gaming platforms, operation and authorization of intellectual property, consumer psychology about online payments, wearable and motion-sensing applications, 4G applications, and development of the animation industry, the association said.
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