Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) yesterday dismissed speculation that its bid to acquire smaller rival Jih Sun Financial Holding Co (日盛金控) is aimed at helping a Chinese shareholder dispose of his assets for cash.
Fubon Financial said in a statement that before it announced a tender offer on Friday to acquire Jih Sun, it had never made any contact with either of Jih Sun’s two majority shareholders — Japan’s Shinsei Bank and Hong Kong-based Capital Target Ltd (建群投資).
Capital Target is reportedly owned by Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua (肖建華), head of the Chinese conglomerate Tomorrow Holding Ltd (明天控股).
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
The financial terms of the acquisition deal are fair to all Jih Sun shareholders, no matter whether they are majority or minority shareholders, Fubon Financial said, assuring that the acquisition process would be transparent.
Earlier, local media cited Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) as saying she suspected that Fubon Financial’s buy-in deal was planned to help Xiao dispose of his assets by transferring his stake in Jih Sun from Capital Target to Fubon Financial.
Kao said that as Fubon Financial has considerable investments in China, the company would have no choice but to yield to pressure from China.
She has asked the Financial Supervisory Commission to investigate whether Capital Target is backed by Chinese funding.
Local Chinese-language media have reported that Shinsei Bank and Capital Target own 35.49 percent and 24.09 percent stakes in Jih Sun respectively.
Fubon Financial said that the acquisition has nothing to do with Tomorrow Holding, adding that even if the company wanted to help Tomorrow Holding dispose of its assets for cash, it would have simply bought it directly instead of via Jih Sun through a tender offer.
Fubon Financial also said the largest shareholder of Xiamen City Commercial Bank (廈門商銀), in which the company has invested, is China’s Xiamen city government, and the largest shareholder of China’s Harbin Bank (哈爾濱銀行), in which Fubon Financial’s wholly owned subsidiary Fubon Life Insurance Co (富邦人壽) has a stake, is the Harbin city government, so its investments in China are irrelevant to Tomorrow Holding.
Under the tender offer, Fubon Financial would acquire a 50.01 percent stake in Jih Sun for NT$24.53 billion (US$860 million), or NT$13 per share.
The offer has been approved by the commission and must be completed before Feb. 1.
If the tender offer to buy a minimum stake of 50 percent in Jih Sun proceeds, Fubon Financial aims to try to acquire the remaining stake to bring its rival completely under its corporate umbrella.
The total cost of the deal would be about NT$49 billion.
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde is expected to step down from her role before her eight-year term ends in October next year, the Financial Times reported. Lagarde wants to leave before the French presidential election in April next year, which would allow French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to find her replacement together, the report said, citing an unidentified person familiar with her thoughts on the matter. It is not clear yet when she might exit, the report said. “President Lagarde is totally focused on her mission and has not taken any decision regarding the end of
French President Emmanuel Macron told a global artificial intelligence (AI) summit in India yesterday he was determined to ensure safe oversight of the fast-evolving technology. The EU has led the way for global regulation with its Artificial Intelligence Act, which was adopted in 2024 and is coming into force in phases. “We are determined to continue to shape the rules of the game... with our allies such as India,” Macron said in New Delhi. “Europe is not blindly focused on regulation — Europe is a space for innovation and investment, but it is a safe space.” The AI Impact Summit is the fourth
CONFUSION: Taiwan, Japan and other big exporters are cautiously monitoring the situation, while analysts said more Trump responses ate likely after his loss in court US trading partners in Asia started weighing fresh uncertainties yesterday after President Donald Trump vowed to impose a new tariff on imports, hours after the Supreme Court struck down many of the sweeping levies he used to launch a global trade war. The court’s ruling invalidated a number of tariffs that the Trump administration had imposed on Asian export powerhouses from China and South Korea to Japan and Taiwan, the world’s largest chip maker and a key player in tech supply chains. Within hours, Trump said he would impose a new 10 percent duty on US imports from all countries starting on
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE: The initiative is aimed at protecting semiconductor supply chain resilience to reduce dependence on China-dominated manufacturing hubs India yesterday joined a US-led initiative to strengthen technology cooperation among strategic allies in a move that underscores the nations’ warming ties after a brief strain over New Delhi’s unabated purchase of discounted Russian oil. The decision aligns India closely with Washington’s efforts to build secure supply chains for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and critical technologies at a time when geopolitical competition with China is intensifying. It also signals a reset in relations following friction over energy trade and tariffs. Nations that have joined the Pax Silica framework include Japan, South Korea, the UK and Israel. “Pax Silica will be a group of nations
RSS