Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), which sells gas-powered scooters under the brand KYMCO, yesterday said it is “seriously” studying the feasibility of spinning off its electric scooter unit as a prelude to an initial public offering (IPO), likely overseas, to raise its brand equity worldwide and facilitate its recruitment of top talent.
“Kwang Yang has no plan to go public, but the company is likely to spin off its electric scooter division for an IPO,” Kwang Yang chairman Allen Ko (柯勝峰) said during an interview with a small group of reporters in Taipei.
“We might follow the model of Harley-Davidson Inc, which is to spin off its electric-motorcycle unit, LiveWire, to list the entity publicly,” Ko said.
Photo courtesy of Kwang Yang Motor
TOP MAKER
Founded in 1963, the company has a long history in making gas-fueled scooters.
Kwang Yang has built a strong presence in the nation’s scooter market, holding on to the No. 1 spot for about two decades, with a market share of more than 30 percent.
Kwang Yang’s new electric scooter business, sold under the brand name Ionex, would have greater flexibility and agility in crafting its expansion plans, Ko said.
If the unit is separated from Kwang Yang and is publicly listed, it would find it easier to attract top talent and raise its brand awareness worldwide, he said.
As the company aims to transform itself into the world’s top electric two-wheeler supplier, an overseas listing could be an option, as foreign investors are more willing to assign attractive valuations to start-ups, he said.
It would not happen overnight as it usually takes several years to plan for an IPO, he added.
At the moment, Kwang Yang’s priority is to expand its global footprint, mainly in China, India and Southeast Asia, which are the world’s top three scooter markets, he said
LIVEWIRE INVESTMENT
“It is crucial to build a foothold while the electric scooter market is still in its infancy, if we want to be an industry leader,” Ko said.
Harley-Davidson plans to list its LiveWire division publicly through a merger with AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. Kwang Yang and KYMCO Capital (金庫資本) are to make a combined US$100 million investment in LiveWire.
Kwang Yang expects its partnership with Harley-Davidson to bear fruit in the next two to three years, Ko said.
That meant new electric two-wheelers made via a jointly developed platform would be available in the next few years, he said.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
Japanese technology giant Softbank Group Corp said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia Corp, raising US$5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier. Tokyo-based Softbank said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia last month, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT. Softbank reported its profit in the April-to-September period soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about US$13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7 percent year-on-year
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS