A Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC, 台灣高鐵) shareholders’ meeting passed a government-backed financial restructuring plan yesterday, which includes cuts to ticket prices.
The meeting’s agenda listed eight resolutions to be put to the vote, seven of them directly related to the financial restructuring plan. They included extending the concession period for the high-speed rail by 35 years, reducing the company’s capital by 60 percent and raising NT$30 billion (US$913 million) from government-affiliated shareholders.
Each resolution passed with margin of between 70 and 90 percent, mainly because most shares are controlled by government-affiliated agencies and the original investors.
Photo: CNA
THSRC chairman Victor Liu (劉維琪) thanked the shareholders for deciding to look at the big picture by supporting the financial restructuring plan. He said that the plan would substantially improve the company’s financial situation, allowing it to hire more people and install new facilities.
Liu also said that the adjusted ticket pricing scheme would now be reviewed by the Bureau of High Speed Rail.
Based on a resolution passed by the legislature, the company should lower its ticket prices as part of the financial restructuring plan. The cost of a ticket from Taipei to Zuoying (左營) should be cut from NT$1,630 to NT$1,490.
Despite the plan garnering the support of a majority of shareholders, some of the smaller shareholders remained dissatisfied that the company’s capital is to be reduced by 60 percent, meaning that they are being forced to accept a loss on their investment.
Shareholder Chen Ming-hsiu (陳明修) said that while 40 percent of the company’s capital came from small shareholders, they did not get dividends and were forced to bear the company’s losses.
Another small shareholder questioned whether the board had followed procedures stipulated in the Company Act (公司法) when it decided to pass the financial restructuring plan. In response, Liu said that the company had consulted attorneys to ensure that the board reached a valid decision and had followed the correct legal procedures.
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) chairman Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠), one of THSRC’s original investors, said in an interview with the Chinese-language United Daily News that the plan, once implemented, would turn THSRC into a state-owned company operated by a private contractor.
Tsai said that he supported the financial restructuring plan on the grounds that it would make the company financially stable.
He said some shareholders might think that reducing the company’s capital by 60 percent was too much, but extending the concession period by 35 years would help his firm redeem its investment in THSRC.
The Bureau of High Speed Rail said that the company is scheduled to start reducing its capital next month, adding that the company’s amended contract with the government would take effect simultaneously.
The bureau said that the company had previously sought arbitration over disputed government charges, but that it must withdraw the arbitration within 15 days of the amended contract taking effect.
The bureau said that the company is then planning to start raising NT$30 billion in December. The High Speed Rail-Related Construction Fund is to invest NT$24.2 billion in the company, while other government-affiliated shareholders plan to invest NT$5.8 billion.
THSRC must pay a dividend to the holders of preferred stock before Feb. 8 next year, the bureau added.
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
RSS