■ BANKING
Demand high for stock
French bank Societe Generale, forced into a capital increase by a massive rogue trader scandal, said on Tuesday that demand for the new shares totaled almost twice the amount of stock on offer. The group launched the operation in February to raise 5.5 billion euros (US$8.5 billion) to bolster confidence and compensate for losses attributed to unauthorized trading by Jerome Kerviel, who faces criminal charges. Societe Generale said demand for the new shares totaled 1.8 time the number of shares being issued. The total losses from Kerviel's trading were put at 4.911 billion euros by the bank.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Yachiyo builds new plant
A Honda subsidiary is building a new plant in Japan to build mini-vehicles, the Japanese car maker said yesterday, as soaring gas prices boosts demand for the cheap, fuel-efficient tiny cars. Yachiyo Industry Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, will build a new plant in Mie Prefecture in central Japan, with engine production set to start next year and auto production a year later, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. Production capacity, when combined with an older nearby plant, will total 240,000 a year, and the new plant will make mini-vehicles such as Life and Zest models, Honda said.
■ FOREX
China seeks alternatives
China's vast sovereign wealth fund is expanding the scope of its investments beyond traditional assets like stocks and bonds to private equity and hedge funds, state media reported yesterday. The US$200 billion China Investment Corp (中國投資公司) has already entrusted money to external asset managers to focus on these alternative investments, the China Securities Journal said, citing Jesse Wang (汪建熙), the fund's vice president. Wang also said that the fund planned to set up branches in global financial centers. "The basic point for our overseas investments is being a financial investor. We seek maximum investment returns with manageable risks," the newspaper quoted Wang as saying.
■ AVIATION
Boeing to protest contract
Boeing said on Monday that it would protest the Air Force's award of a US$35 billion contract to build aerial refueling planes to a group that includes its European rival Airbus. The protest, to be made yesterday to the Government Accountability Office, had appeared increasingly likely in recent days as Boeing officials issued a series of statements indicating that they felt they had been treated unfairly. Boeing has a long history of making refueling tankers and was widely expected to win the contract. The GAO would have 100 days to review the action.
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
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