The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is considering expediting listed companies’ share issuance proposals to enhance efficiency in local capital markets, the commission said yesterday.
Listed companies must apply to the FSC before issuing new shares and often have to take into account rule changes, Securities and Futures Bureau Deputy Director Kuo Chia-chun (郭佳君) told a news conference in Taipei.
However, the commission is considering allowing firms to file applications covering multiple issuances within two years, Kuo said.
Under the proposed mechanism, a firm would need to report the total number of shares it is planning to issue and the total amount of funds it is planning to raise in the next two years, Kuo said.
If the commission approves the plan, the firm could issue multiple batches of shares without having to apply individually, Kuo said.
The mechanism would boost efficiency in the local capital markets by shortening issuance procedures from three months to one-and-a-half months, Kuo told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Under the current rules, it usually takes underwriters about one month to evaluate a company’s issuance plan, while reviews of issuance applications take another 17 days on average, Kuo said.
Eventually, it takes the company about one-and-a-half months to negotiate with shareholders that are willing to acquire the new shares, he added.
Under the new mechanism, approvals would cover multiple issuances and underwriters would not have to evaluate every single issuance plan, Kuo said.
However, the new mechanism would only apply to two types of listed companies: Firms with operation scales and capital expenditures above a certain limit and firms whose product development takes a longer time, Kuo said, adding that semiconductor firms and biotech companies would likely fall into the two groups.
The main reason that not all listed companies could benefit from the eased rules is that market regulators, including the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the Taipei Exchange and the FSC, would have to be more stringent in reviewing proposals by eligible firms, taking into account their financial files as well as their business outlook for the next two years, Kuo said.
Although there is no ban on listed companies posting red numbers that wish to issue new shares, regulators are usually more cautiously when reviewing their applications and demand business improvement plans, Kuo said.
Regulators would likely be more careful when reviewing applications that involve a firm’s future outlook, she said.
Based on the experiences with similar mechanisms implemented by regulators in the US, Japan and South Korea, the FSC would only open its new mechanism to certain companies, Kuo said.
The FSC would finish drafting the plan next quarter, Kuo said.
New share issuances raised a total of NT$58.5 billion (US$2.11 billion) in the first half of this year, up 99 percent from NT$29.3 billion a year earlier, FSC data showed.
Among 147 firms that issued new shares in 2019 or last year, 18 companies conducted more than one issuance, the data showed.
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
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
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS