Sat, Mar 04, 2017 page11

• Taiwan Business Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  PROPERTY

  Market grows 65.5%

  The nation’s property market registered 65.5 percent growth in the six special municipalities last month from a year earlier, government data showed earlier this week. There were 12,257 property deals in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, up from 7,406 during the same period last year. New Taipei City reported the biggest increase of 95 percent, thanks to completed construction on a large apartment complex in Tamsui District (淡水). In the first two months of this year, housing transactions in the six cities gained almost 50 percent from a year earlier to 27,900 units, the data showed. Real-estate broker Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) said transactions could expand further this year as building companies are due to deliver 100,000 presale apartment units.

  BANKING

  Natixis to open in Taipei

  Natixis, a French corporate and investment bank, on Thursday announced the opening of its first branch in Taipei as part of the company’s plans to tap into growth opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region. The company is the international corporate, investment, insurance and financial services arm of Groups BPCE, France’s second-largest banking group. Natixis Asia-Pacific Corporate and Investment Banking chief executive Alain Galloise told a news conference that the firm’s profit contribution from Asia has risen from 5 percent to 11 percent in the past four years. The company has had a representative office in Taipei since 2008 and hopes to expand its staff to 19 or 20 by the end of this year, it said.

  MANUFACTURING

  Growth ‘sluggish’: TIER

  The local manufacturing sector flashed “yellow-blue” in January for the fourth consecutive month as the index that gauges the climate of the sector dropped from the previous month, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said on Thursday. The institute uses a five-color system to describe domestic economic activity, with “yellow-blue” indicating sluggish growth. The institute said that the composite index for the local manufacturing sector fell 0.75 points in January from a month earlier to 10.85, but remained in the “yellow-blue” category, which ranges between 10.5 and 13 points. The lower January score reflected a reduced number of business days due to the six-day Lunar New Year holiday, the institute said. Furthermore, the first quarter is usually a slow season for many industries in the local manufacturing sector, it said.

  ELECTRONICS

  Apple offers callable bonds

  Apple Inc listed US$1 billion of bonds on Taiwan’s over-the-counter (OTC) market yesterday, according to the Taipei Exchange. The US company issued US$1.38 billion in bonds on the local OTC market in June last year, and the second tranche of US$1 billion in bonds with a 30-year maturity carried a coupon rate of 4.3 percent, higher than the 4.15 percent offered in the first bond sale. The latest Apple bonds are callable bonds which investors can redeem after three years at the option of the issuer. Ahead of the listing, several major life insurance companies rushed to subscribe and they accounted for more than 96 percent of Apple’s new bonds, in the expectation that the US Federal Reserve’s rate hike cycle would continue to boost returns, market sources said.
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