ECONOMY
Bond sale to fetch NT$145bn
The government plans to auction NT$115 billion (US$3.9 billion) in bonds and NT$30 billion in treasury bills in the third quarter of this year to help repay debt and handle special funding needs, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a statement on its Web site yesterday. The third-quarter sale of NT$145 billion in total bonds and treasury bills is 12.12 percent lower than the NT$165 billion debt the government sold in the second quarter. Apart from the regular five-year, 10-year and 20-year bonds to be issued each month in the next quarter, the ministry said it plans to sell NT$30 billion in 273-day treasury bills in August to help state coffers meet short-term capital needs. The ministry did not specify the total worth of bonds to be sold in the fourth quarter, saying only that there would be a total of four bond issues.
COMPONENTS
Synnex takes NT$14bn loan
Synnex Technology International Corp (聯強國際), the largest distributor of information, communications, consumer electronics and semiconductor products in the Asia-Pacific region, yesterday secured a syndicated loan of NT$14.4 billion from nine local banks led by Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐銀行), the company said in a statement. It has been eight years since the company last received a syndicated loan, and banks have shown great interest in the deal with oversubscription by nearly two times, it said. Other banks included are Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行), Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行) and Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行). The company is to use the loan to replenish its working capital in the medium term, it said. The loan is linked to three environmental, social and governance sustainability indicators, namely “total water consumption,” “total electricity consumption” and “satisfaction with home services,” it added.
INVESTMENT
TAIFEX payout approved
Shareholders of the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) yesterday approved the exchange’s proposal to distribute a dividend of NT$4.55 per share, including a cash dividend of NT$3.15 per share. At its annual general meeting in Taipei, TAIFEX told shareholders that Taiwan’s futures market registered a record-high trading volume of 392.2 million contracts last year, up 14.9 percent year-on-year, with an average daily volume of 1.61 million contracts. Foreign institutions accounted for 31.46 percent of the market volume as of the end of last year, a record high and up from 26.03 percent in 2020, it said. Thanks to rising trading volume amid greater market volatility and a stronger appetite for risk, the exchange reported net profit of NT$3.19 billion, or earnings per share of NT$7.59.
SHIPPING
Shippers unite on new route
Container shippers Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) and Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) on Wednesday said they would team up with Singapore-based shipping company Pacific International Lines Pte Ltd to launch a new shipping route from China’s Ningbo to Latin America. The new service is to launch from July 13, as the shippers aim to meet rising market demand, they said in a joint statement. A fleet of 10 vessels apiece with a capacity from 3,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) to 4,250 TEUs would be used on the weekly service, Wan Hai said. A round trip would take 70 days, the statement said.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
The list of Asian stocks that benefit from business partnership with Nvidia Corp is getting longer, as the region further integrates into the artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant’s business ecosystem. Just in the past week, South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc, Taiwan’s Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技), as well as China’s Huizhou Desay SV Automotive Co (德賽西威) and Pateo Connect Technology Shanghai Corp (博泰車聯) have become the latest to rally on news of tie-ups, supply-chain participation or product collaboration with the US chip designer. Asian suppliers account for about 90 percent of Nvidia’s production costs, up from about 65 percent last year, data compiled
The Fair Trade Commission’s (FTC) ongoing review of Grab Holdings Ltd’s US$600 million acquisition of Foodpanda Taiwan’s operations, announced on March 23, has taken on fresh urgency as industry experts warn that the transaction could embed significant Chinese cybersecurity vulnerabilities into Taiwan’s digital infrastructure through Grab’s deep ties to autonomous-driving firm WeRide (文遠知行). Less than 16 months after the FTC blocked Uber Eats’ direct attempt to acquire Foodpanda Taiwan — citing potential combined market shares of 80 to 90 percent — the emergence of Grab as the buyer has prompted questions about whether the same competitive harm is simply being rerouted
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