The number of companies completing applications to conduct initial public offerings (IPOs) in Taiwan fell to 17 in the first seven months of this year from 35 a year earlier, as some firms could not meet the listing requirements, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a report released by the Legislative Yuan earlier this week.
In the first seven months of this year, 10 companies applied to be listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), down from 17 last year, and 7 companies applied to have their shares traded on the Taipei Exchange (TPEX), down from 18 last year, the report showed.
Sixteen firms debuted their shares on the Emerging Stock Board — a preparatory board for the TWSE and TPEX — down from 21 last year, the commission said.
“The number of companies that applied to conduct IPOs on the nation’s two main bourses has continued to decrease from 95 in 2011 to 57 last year, which should serve as a warning for the domestic financial market. The authorities should monitor this issue,” the Legislative Yuan Budget Center said in a report.
The commission attributes the decline in IPO applications to the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, which has negatively affected some export-oriented companies, while some companies have seen the value of their overseas assets decline due to the weaker US dollar, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director-General Tsai Li-ling (蔡麗玲) said by telephone on Monday.
“Some firms held back from listing as they failed to meet the listing requirements on net value or profitability amid the currency fluctuations, while several companies chose to apply later, despite meeting the exchange requirements, as they hoped to perform their best when debuting,” Tsai said.
Uncertainty due to the US-China trade dispute has weighed on IPO plans, with some companies preferring to wait until the tensions ease, she said.
The commission remains confident in local IPOs given the nation’s transparent environment, a clear schedule for application reviews, and fewer restrictions on fund inflows and outflows, she added.
Hotai Finance Co (和潤企業), a vehicle loans and insurance service unit of Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), on Tuesday submitted its application for a listing on the TWSE, with its paid-in capital totaling NT$3.74 billion (US$120.4 million), the highest of this year’s applicants, TWSE spokeswoman Rebecca Chen (陳麗卿) said.
A few companies are expected to submit IPO applications over the next three months, Chen said.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, yesterday said that small-volume production of 3-nanometer (nm) chips for a key customer is on track to start by the end of this year, dismissing speculation about delays in producing advanced chips. As Alchip is transitioning from 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer process technology to 3 nanometers, investors and shareholders have been closely monitoring whether the company is navigating through such transition smoothly. “We are proceeding well in [building] this generation [of chips]. It appears to me that no revision will be required. We have achieved success in designing
RSS