Koos Group (
Chinatrust Commercial Bank (
"The Koos Group is keen on exploring the possibility" of a financial holding company, he said in an interview. "Obviously we see value in putting all the parts together." A holding company will allow the entities to make further acquisitions under one umbrella and cross-sell products.
Reorganizing financial units into a holding company may also help promote discipline among Koos Group units, some investors said, as Taiwan's slumping economy hurts even rich families like the Koos.
In June, Amvescap Plc, Europe's biggest publicly traded fund manager, bought 70 percent of the Koos' Grand Pacific Securities Investment Trust Co (
The Taiwanese economy shrank 2.35 percent in the second-quarter and Albert King, president of HSBC Investment Management Taiwan Ltd, forecast the economy may contract as much as 8 percent in the third quarter.
"These family groups have been leveraging their assets, they are facing difficulties," said King, who helps manage about NT$2.5 billion in investments.
Koos Group has NT$36 billion in assets, about 20,000 employees around the world and a controlling interest in at least 80 companies.
If the Koos Group does merge its financial units into one company, it will be the latest Taiwanese company to announce plans to do so ahead of the November enactment of a new law allowing the formation of holding companies that can acquire lenders, securities companies, insurers and money managers.
KGI Securities, which has units in Hong Kong, China, Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines, is looking to acquire other brokerages. KGI is in talks with Singapore's J.M. Sassoon Holdings Ltd to help expand its broker, asset management, investment banking and proprietary trading businesses.
"We are looking not just in Taiwan but throughout the region" for potential acquisitions, Koo said.
He said KGI was looking to expand its relationship with Deutsche Bank AG, whose asset management unit signed a joint venture with the Koos Group in August to offer investment services.
"We have plans to work closer together to initiate other business in the region," Koo said. KGI Securities was formerly known as China Securities Co Ltd.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —