Polyester and textile maker Far Eastern New Century Corp (FENC, 遠東新世紀) has acquired 90 percent of the shares of US polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycler Phoenix Technologies International LLC, an investment that is expected to contribute to its sales this quarter.
The company bought Phoenix Technologies for NT$316 million (US$10.04 million) through its chemical fiber subsidiary APG Polytech USA Holdings Inc, the company said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday.
Phoenix Technologies produces recycled PET (R-PET) to make plastic containers for drinks, food, cleaning products and other daily necessities.
“The newly acquired plant has an output of 36,000 tonnes of R-PET per year and we expect it to contribute to sales right away as it is already in operation,” FENC chief financial officer Wang Chien-cheng (王健誠) told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday.
The Ohio-based plant is to focus mostly on the US market and FENC plans to acquire more facilities for the plant if demand continues to grow, he said.
“The purchase of Phoenix Technologies is to meet the growing demand for R-PET from global beverage and daily necessity brands,” Wang said.
Governments around the world have also demanded that international brands increase the use of recycled material in their products to help protect the environment, he added.
FENC also has major R-PET plants in Taiwan and Japan, with annual outputs of 55,000 tonnes and 50,000 tonnes respectively.
Following the latest acquisition, the company expects its annual R-PET output to rise from last year’s 225,000 tonnes to 261,000 tonnes, it said.
The purchase is FENC’s third investment in the US in the past 18 months.
The company bought a PET plant in West Virginia from M&G USA Corp and land in Ohio in January last year.
It also jointly acquired another PET plant in Texas with two foreign companies in December last year.
Accumulated investments in the US have totaled more than NT$13 billion since last year, company data showed.
Petrochemical, textiles and polyester products contributed 65 percent of sales last quarter, while the telecom business accounted for 33 percent, and property and other services accounted for the other 2 percent, FENC said.
The company’s first-quarter net income dipped 18.37 percent to NT$2.02 billion from a year earlier due to higher crude oil prices.
Earnings per share decreased to NT$0.40, while gross margin dropped 3.36 percentage points to 17.56 percent.
The company’s petrochemical business would bounce back this quarter on foreign-exchange gains, Wang said.
The domestic unit of the Chinese-owned, Dutch-headquartered chipmaker Nexperia BV will soon be able to produce semiconductors locally within China, according to two company sources. Nexperia is at the center of a global tug-of-war over critical semiconductor technology, with a Dutch court in February ordering a probe into alleged mismanagement at the company. The geopolitical tussle has disrupted supply chains, with some carmakers reportedly forced to cut production due to chip shortages. Local production would allow Nexperia’s domestic arm, Nexperia Semiconductors (China) Ltd (安世半導體中國), to bypass restrictions in place since October on the supply of silicon wafers — etched with tiny components to
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday received government approval to deploy its advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process at its second fab currently under construction in Japan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a news release. The ministry green-lit the plan for the facility in Kumamoto, which is scheduled to start installing equipment and come online in 2028 with a monthly production capacity of 15,000 12-inch wafers, the ministry said. The Department of Investment Review in June 2024 authorized a US$5.26 billion investment for the facility, slated to manufacture 6- to 12nm chips, significantly less advanced than 3nm process. At a meeting with
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS