Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) yesterday said that a director on its board on Thursday proposed creating a task force to study the feasibility of a merger with Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控).
The motion was not passed, Shin Kong said.
Shin Kong Financial’s comment came after media reports said that board director Hung Shih-chi (洪士琪) suggested that the company set up a team to assess the feasibility of a merger.
The board did not make a resolution on Hung’s proposal as it was not on the agenda, Shin Kong Financial told the Taipei Times by telephone, adding that it would disclose details if a resolution is passed.
Taishin said in a statement yesterday it did not know anything about the proposal and that it had not received an invitation from Shin Kong Financial to evaluate the feasibility of a merger.
It would keep an open mind toward the matter, Taishin said.
As the companies are part of the “pan-Shin Kong Group (新光集團),” they have discussed the possibility of a merger a few years ago, the statement said.
“It might be good if the two companies have a chance to work together toward the goal this time,” Taishin said.
Former Shin Kong Financial chairman Eugene Wu (吳東進) and Taishin chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮), who are brothers, in 2002 announced a plan to merge the two firms to establish a single financial conglomerate, but the plan collapsed the same year.
To facilitate the 2002 plan, Taishin asked Shin Kong Financial to set aside NT$19.6 billion (US$682.81 million) to cover potential losses stemming from higher insurance claims.
Because of the additional provision, Shin Kong Financial reported an after-tax loss of NT$8.82 billion instead of a projected profit of NT$3.96 billion that year, angering Taishin, which called off the merger on July 3, 2002, reports said.
The Financial Supervisory Commission would respect a decision by the two companies to merge, Banking Bureau Deputy Director-General Lin Chih-chi (林志吉) told a news conference on Thursday.
The commission had not received any reports from the companies, but if they do file an application to merge, it would examine their capital adequacy and confirm shareholder approval of any deal, Lin said.
As Taishin and Shin Kong Financial have their own banking and insurance units, the merger would be complicated, market analysts said.
If a merger were to proceed, they would face a thorough review from regulators to ensure that the financial market would not be disturbed and consumers’ interests are protected, they said.
Shin Kong Financial’s share price advanced 4.17 percent to NT$11.25 in Taipei trading yesterday, while Taishin’s gained 0.49 percent to NT$20.6, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
Artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Cambricon Technologies Corp (寒武紀科技) plunged almost 9 percent after warning investors about a doubling in its share price over just a month, a record gain that helped fuel a US$1 trillion Chinese market rally. Cambricon triggered the selloff with a Thursday filing in which it dispelled talk about nonexistent products in the pipeline, reminded investors it labors under US sanctions, and stressed the difficulties of ascending the technology ladder. The Shanghai-listed company’s stock dived by the most since April in early yesterday trading, while the market stood largely unchanged. The litany of warnings underscores growing scrutiny of
RSS