Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) yesterday called on the government to follow through on the promise it made in 2005 to support the company’s bid to obtain majority control of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (CHB, 彰化銀行).
CHB is set to call an extraordinary general meeting on Dec. 8 to elect a new board of directors, with six directors and three independent directors to be re-elected, amid an ongoing battle between Taishin Financial and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to gain control of the formerly state-run lender.
“We have always hoped to cooperate with the government in CHB’s case, while expecting the government to carry out the commitments it made in 2005,” Taishin Financial chief financial officer Welch Lin (林維俊) told an investors’ conference.
Lin held up a government document dated from 2005 in which he said the ministry stated it would support CHB’s buyer in getting management rights by helping the investor win more than half of the seats on the bank’s board.
“Taishin Financial is not making excessive demands; instead we have tried hard to compromise with the government,” Lin said.
On behalf of the 400,000 combined shareholders of Taishin Financial and CHB, as well as foreign institutional investors — who hold about 35 percent of Taishin Financial — Lin said he hopes the ministry will keep its promises and avoid damaging the investment environment.
Based on an annual CHB report released in June, Taishin Financial controls 22.5 percent of the bank’s shares, making it the largest shareholder. Government institutions hold 20.45 percent. However, the bank-focused conglomerate has tried unsuccessfully since 2005 to integrate CHB into its operations, amid protests from unions and the legislature.
Since both sides have tried to raise their holdings of CHB shares and made proxy contests, market watchers have expected a “bang-bang play” at the extraordinary meeting next month.
Taishin Financial saw net income total NT$13.86 billion (US$419.96 million), or NT$1.51 per share, in the first 10 months of the year — the highest level in the company’s history.
Taishin Financial president Joseph Jao (饒世湛) said he expects the firm’s lending business to show steady year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter, mainly driven by individual loans, value-added housing loans and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
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