An investment firm led by a Taiwanese property tycoon has agreed to buy Eastern Broadcasting Co (東森電視), one of the leading cable TV stations in Taiwan.
In a statement released on Thursday, Eastern Media International Corp (東森國際), which holds a 21.32 percent stake in the cable TV station, said it and other shareholders would sell their stake in Eastern Broadcasting for about NT$17 billion (US$563 million) to Mao Te International Investment Co (茂德國際投資), owned by property developer Chang Kao-shiang (張高祥).
US-based private equity fund Carlyle Group owns a 62 percent stake in Eastern Broadcasting, while minority shareholders own the remaining 16.68 percent.
Data compiled by the Department of Commerce shows that Chang established the investment firm in New Taipei City in August and that it has mainly invested in the property market and traded in building materials in Taiwan.
Chang is a low-profile property developer, but he owns assets worth about NT$100 billion, media reports said.
In recent years, Chang has also benefited from the sale of large-scale residential property projects in New Taipei City’s Sinjhung (新莊) and Banciao (板橋) districts, the reports said.
Eastern Media chairman Liao Shang-wen (廖尚文) said the sale is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
Liao said the deal, which is expected to rake in about NT$3.06 billion in profit or earnings per share of about NT$4.4, would help the company make up its net losses of NT$129 million, or NT$0.19 per share, during the first half of the year.
The company is expected to report an additional NT$10 million in losses for the third quarter of the year.
Proceeds from the sale are expected to boost Eastern Media’s book value per share to more than NT$10 from NT$6.51 as of the end of June, and the company intends to issue dividends to shareholders for this year’s earnings, Liao said.
Eastern Media shares gained 10 percent to close at NT$10.1 in Taipei trading yesterday.
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
HSBC Holdings PLC is deepening its commitment to Taiwan as the economy emerges as one of the bank’s fastest-growing markets globally, driven by an artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, expanding cross-border trade, and rising wealth creation. “The advantage that Taiwan has is a growth story linked to the semiconductor and broader AI industries, strong underlying corporate performance, and wealth creation,” said Surendra Rosha, HSBC’s co-chief executive for Asia and the Middle East, in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on June 2, during this year’s HSBC Taiwan Conference. That combination has helped HSBC cement its position as the most profitable international
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it would work with US chipmaker Intel Corp to jointly develop and deploy next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and intelligent computing platforms in a move to capture booming demand for AI computing systems. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康), said in a statement that the partnership would combine its global manufacturing scale, system integration expertise and AI data center deployment capabilities with Intel’s strengths in processor architecture, silicon technologies and software ecosystem. The companies said they plan to work on equipment used in AI data centers, including server racks powered by
RSS