Last week, regulators spoiled the game for Primus Financial Holdings by rejecting its consortium’s US$2.2 billion bid for Nan Shan Life Insurance, the local life insurance subsidiary of American International Group (AIG).
That would usually be the end of the story. However, Primus has turned desperate and, according to market sources, is asking almost any financial institution it can find to help it get back in the hunt for Nan Shan.
Primus and its partner China Strategic Holdings have been battling uphill for nearly a year to win regulatory approval for its Nan Shan bid.
However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission turned down the application because the Financial Supervisory Commission found plenty of reason to doubt that the Hong Kong consortium had the financial wherewithal to run Nan Shan over the long haul.
QUESTIONS REMAIN
Also, China Strategic, the main financial backer of the consortium, denied being funded from China. However, the accusations were never conclusively disproven.
Primus now seems caught in a downward spiral, publicly scolding the government for the rejection, but also, quietly, trying to find a substitute partner — a partner that cannot be linked to Chinese funds.
Taipei market insiders and media sources say that Primus wants to drop China Strategic and is frantically fishing for a Taiwanese conglomerate or other financial institution. In a move that seems designed to appease the financial commission and attract a new financial backer, Primus is reportedly prepared to offer a 10 percent stake to Nan Shan staff and 45 percent to a new financial partner.
Primus is clearly talking to AIG about such an arrangement. Market sources say that Yuanta Financial Holdings, a securities financial group, has already been approached by Primus. Fubon Financial Holding may be another potential partner because the financial and insurance company has publicly expressed an interest in Nan Shan.
However, Fubon just bought ING’s local insurance subsidiary and the result would be major layoffs, which would again stand to run afoul of the financial commission.
LAST BEST HOPE
Luckily, AIG has at least one attractive alternative. Chinatrust Financial Holding, Taiwan’s third-largest financial institution, made a superior offer of US$2.4 billion to Nan Shan a year ago and has said it wants to renew it, according to Reuters. The Primus/China Strategic bid was only for US$2.2 billion.
The Chinatrust option seems like a no-brainer. Not only is the well-regarded bank willing to pay more, it also knows financial services in Taiwan, something the rejected consortium did not.
SAVING JOBS
AIG is largely owned by the US government and is eager to give back some of the billions the US poured into saving AIG from collapse during the financial meltdown. Taking the better offer would not only return that taxpayer money, it also would also ensure that the Taiwanese insurer continues its operations and creates employment in Taiwan.
Indeed, AIG was threatening to lay off 60 percent of Nan Shan’s workforce unless its deal with Primus was approved.
Chinatrust, which has the local expertise and funds to run a successful operation, is due for serious consideration by AIG. Primus’ time has passed. It’s also long past time to put this year-long saga to rest by closing a deal.
Eugen Iladi is a freelance reporter based in Miami.
As it has striven toward superiority in most measures of the Asian military balance, China is now ready to challenge the undersea balance of power, long dominated by the United States, a decisive advantage crucial to its ability to deter blockade and invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). America expended enormous treasure to develop the technology, logistics, training, and personnel to emerge victorious in the Cold War undersea struggle against the former Soviet Union, and to remain superior today; the US is not used to considering the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
The annual summit of East Asia and other events around the ASEAN summit in October and November every year have become the most important gathering of leaders in the Indo-Pacific region. This year, as Laos is the chair of ASEAN, it was privileged to host all of the ministerial and summit meetings associated with ASEAN. Besides the main summit, this included the high-profile East Asia Summit, ASEAN summits with its dialogue partners and the ASEAN Plus Three Summit with China, Japan and South Korea. The events and what happens around them have changed over the past 15 years from a US-supported, ASEAN-led
Lately, China has been inviting Taiwanese influencers to travel to China’s Xinjiang region to make films, weaving a “beautiful Xinjiang” narrative as an antidote to the international community’s criticisms by creating a Potemkin village where nothing is awry. Such manipulations appear harmless — even compelling enough for people to go there — but peeling back the shiny veneer reveals something more insidious, something that is hard to ignore. These films are not only meant to promote tourism, but also harbor a deeper level of political intentions. Xinjiang — a region of China continuously listed in global human rights reports —
President William Lai’s (賴清德) first Double Ten National Day address had two strategic goals. For domestic affairs, the speech aimed to foster consensus on national identity, strengthen the country and unite the Taiwanese against a Chinese invasion. In terms of cross-strait relations, the speech aimed to mitigate tensions in the Taiwan Strait and promote the coexistence and prosperity of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in China and the Republic of China (ROC). Lai is taking a different stance from previous Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administrations on domestic political issues. During his speech, he said: “The PRC could not be the
RSS