The four major creditors of Ting Hsin International Group’s (頂新集團) syndicated loan of NT$6.8 billion (US$214.2 million) need more time to decide whether to grant the conglomerate a grace period, state-run Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀), the banking arm of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), said yesterday.
The comments came after the banks failed to reach a consensus on the matter before the loan is due today.
The loan was granted for Ting Hsin’s land development project in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重).
Apart from Mega International, the three other banks are First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) and Taishin International Bank (台新銀行).
Ting Hsin has requested that the four banks extend the loan by six months, after its major affiliate in Taiwan, Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品工業), failed to auction off the plot and its stake in a land development subsidiary earlier this week. Ting Hsin had set the floor price at NT$7 billion, which would have been sufficient to repay the bank loan.
After failing to reach an agreement yesterday, representatives of the four banks are scheduled to hold another round of discussions today.
Even if the four banks agree to extend the loan, most market observers said they expect the creditors to demand that Ting Hsin repay part of the loan as a condition.
The banks might also raise the interest rate again on the loan after the credit extension, due to rising credit risks, they said.
The interest rate has been raised by 60 percent since the outbreak of the latest adulterated oil scandal involving Ting Hsin, which seriously damaged the conglomerate’s reputation and businesses in Taiwan.
Various banks have already frozen credit to Ting Hsin and its affiliates due to the same concerns. The group has repaid more than NT$10 billion to domestic banks after the scandal.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) investment project in Arizona has progressed better than expected, but it still faces challenges such as water and labor shortages, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Yeh Chun-hsien (葉俊顯) said yesterday. Speaking with reporters after visiting TSMC’s Arizona hub and attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit in Maryland last week, Yeh said TSMC’s Arizona site turned a profit of NT$16.14 billion (US$514 million) last year in its first full year of mass production. “TSMC told me it was surprised by the smooth trial run of the first fab, which has left the company optimistic about the project’s outlook,”
RSS