Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店) yesterday said that Wan Pao Development Co (萬寶開發), Cathay Financial Holding Co’s (國泰金控) largest shareholder, had bought a stake of almost 20 percent in the nation’s second-largest convenience store chain.
Cathay Financial said it had no knowledge of Wan Pao’s investment activities and could not speak on its behalf.
Wan Pao, which is owned by the family of Cathay Financial chairman Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖), holds a 15.86 percent stake in Cathay Financial. Another family-owned firm, Lin Yuan Investment Co (霖園投資), holds a 14.02 percent stake in Cathay Financial, bringing the family’s total holding in the financial firm to nearly 30 percent.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
On Dec. 5, food and beverage maker Taisun Enterprise Co (泰山企業) announced that it had sold 43.3 million shares, or a 19.4 percent stake, in Taiwan FamilyMart to a buyer for NT$187 per share.
Taisun pocketed NT$8.097 billion (US$264.76 million) from the deal, which was executed in a block trade — a large privately negotiated securities transaction.
The purchase makes Wan Pao the second-largest shareholder of Taiwan FamilyMart, after Japan-based FamilyMart Co, which owns about a 45 percent stake in the Taiwanese convenience store chain, companies’ data showed.
Local media reports said that the Tsai family did not use Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽), the flagship firm of Cathay Financial, but Wan Pao as a vehicle to acquire the Taiwan FamilyMart stake, because life insurers are required by law to disclose investments to the Financial Supervisory Commission when they buy a stake of more than 10 percent.
The Tsai family’s move to take a majority stake in Taiwan FamilyMart is an attempt to take on rival Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) in the local retail market, the reports said.
Fubon Financial is the owner of e-commerce operator Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體).
The Tsai family was impressed with FamilyMart’s lead in the local retail and logistics business, and upbeat about its outlook, the reports said.
The family also has faith in FamilyMart’s mobile payment system +Pay (全盈) launched by All Win Fintech Co (全盈支付金融科技) in April, they added.
All Win Fintech is a joint venture between Taiwan FamilyMart and E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控).
The electronic payment company had 9 million users at the end of October, data from the Financial Supervisory Commission showed.
Market sources said that Cathay Financial also wanted to take advantage of FamilyMart’s popularity to enhance its flagship banking entity United Cathay Bank’s (國泰世華銀行) credit card and ATM operations.
Taiwan FamilyMart posted earnings per share (EPS) of NT$2.29 in the third quarter, up from NT$1.27 a year earlier.
EPS in the first nine months of the year was NT$4.63, compared with NT$4.27 in the same period last year.
Additional reporting by Kao Shih-ching
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RSS