Taichung Commercial Bank Co (台中商銀) on Saturday said that it has terminated an agreement to acquire US-based American Continental Bancorp (ACB), citing fast-changing market conditions.
In a filing with Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp, the bank said the two sides reached a consensus not to pursue the deal after taking into account rapidly changing global political and economic conditions.
The two sides also failed to fulfill the terms of the agreement by the deadline, Taichung Bank said.
Photo: Chang Hsieh-sheng, Taipei Times
The Taichung-based bank and ACB signed an agreement in October last year for the Taiwanese bank to acquire a 100 percent stake in ACB in exchange for cash.
The acquisition would have allowed Taichung Bank to boost its visibility in the North American market.
ACB is the holding company of the California-headquartered American Continental Bank, which offers corporate banking services to Chinese-American communities in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in California, and in the city of Bellevue in the state of Washington.
In October, ACB said the acquisition price had been tentatively set at US$82.1 million, or about US$41.48 per share, calculated as of June 30 last year.
Taichung Bank said it had agreed to pay US$500,000 to ACB to terminate the acquisition agreement.
The decision to not pursue the agreement was unlikely to have any adverse material impact on its operations, Taichung Bank said.
Despite the failed acquisition, Taichung Bank said it would continue to evaluate any opportunities to extend its reach in overseas markets.
In 2018, Taichung Bank opened a branch in Labuan, Malaysia — its first overseas foothold — and later added marketing offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kota Kinabalu.
Last May, it obtained approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission to open a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS