Funds raised through initial public offerings (IPOs) in Taiwan reached NT$4.501 billion (US$151.86 million) in the first half of this year, down from NT$12.06 billion over the same period last year, while the number of IPOs fell from 19 to 10, multinational accounting firm Ernst & Young said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted many enterprises to put their fundraising plans on hold and dampened their willingness to go public, Ernst & Young said on Tuesday last week.
The local main board saw four IPOs in the six-month period, down from six a year earlier, with the funds raised plunging 82.1 percent year-on-year, while the over-the-counter (OTC) market saw the number of IPOs drop from 13 to six and the funds raised fall 12.1 percent, Ernst & Young said.
Among the 10 IPOs that did go ahead, proximity sensor maker Sensortek Technology Corp (昇佳電子) was the most successful, raising NT$2.14 billion on the OTC market on June 8, the firm said.
The high-tech industry completed five IPOs on the local equity market and raised a total of NT$2.75 billion in the first half, Ernst & Young said.
On the main board, the electric and machinery industry accounted for the majority of new listings, and on the OTC market, the semiconductor industry took the lead, it said.
NOT ALONE
Taiwan is not the only market to see a plunge in IPOs.
During the January-to-June period, 412 companies listed their shares worldwide, a drop of 95 from a year earlier, while the funds raised declined 12 percent to US$66.7 billion, Ernst & Young said.
Looking ahead, concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to continue to affect the IPO market in Taiwan and market uncertainty is unlikely to recede until the fourth quarter, the firm said.
Other factors such as the US recession, trade friction between Washington and Beijing, and the slowdown of the global economy are also factors that might undermine IPO activities in the second half of this year, it said.
‘BIG LOSS’: This year might see the last generation of Huawei’s Kirin chips, as their production would stop next month because they are made using US technology Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co (華為) is running out of processor chips to make smartphones due to US sanctions and would be forced to stop production of its own most advanced chips, a company executive has said, in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from US pressure. Huawei, one of the biggest producers of smartphones and network equipment, is at the center of US-Chinese tension over technology and security. Washington last year cut off Huawei’s access to US components and technology, and those penalties were tightened in May, when the White House barred vendors worldwide from using US
’WHITE BOX’: The open platform would give local firms access to Cisco’s cloud-based mobile network to develop 5G telecom equipment and tap into the global market The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday introduced a new 5G “open lab” in collaboration with US-based information technology and networking giant Cisco Systems Inc to address the rapidly growing “white box” 5G networking equipment market. The open lab will be a platform where Taiwanese manufacturers can access Cisco’s cloud-based mobile network to develop their own 5G telecom equipment, such as small-cell base stations, network switches, modems and Internet of things (IoT) devices, a ministry statement said. The open platform would allow Taiwanese manufacturers to tap into the lucrative 5G telecom equipment market, which was previously monopolized by Nokia Oyj, Ericsson AB
CORPORATE SCANDAL: Cathay Life has invested NT$13.3 billion in Bank Mayapada since 2015, but the latest loss of NT$8.8 billion has completely written off its investment Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) yesterday said it would recognize an investment loss of NT$8.8 billion (US$298.1 million) in Indonesia’s Bank Mayapada Internasional Tbk PT due to concerns about the lender’s operations amid a corporate scandal. The company said it would revise its earnings result for June, from a net profit of NT$6.52 billion to a net loss of NT$520 million, its first monthly loss over the past 17 months. After booking an investment loss of NT$5.2 billion in Bank Mayapada earlier this year, Cathay Life has so far recognized total investment losses of NT$14 billion in the lender, executive vice president
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported that revenue last month expanded 25 percent annually, but fell 12.8 percent month-on-month to NT$105.96 billion (US$3.59 billion). In the first seven months of this year, the chipmaker’s revenue surged 33.6 percent to NT$727.26 billion, compared with NT$544.46 billion a year earlier. TSMC has said it aims to grow its revenue by more than 20 percent this year. The company has since May 15 stopped taking new orders from Huawei Technologies Co (華為), its second-biggest customer after Apple Inc, due to the US’ restrictions on exports containing US technologies. TSMC has no plans to
RSS