Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控), the nation’s third-largest financial services provider by assets, yesterday approved plans to buy local fund house Truswell Securities Investment Trust Co (富鼎投信) for NT$466 million (US$15.6 million), in another bid to expand its business map.
The board of Chinatrust Financial gave its go-ahead to acquire a 98.6 percent stake in Truswell Investment, a move that still needs approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission, the buying firm said in a statement.
“We have a positive view on the outlook of the local wealth management market and intend to take better advantage of it after making Truswell a subsidiary,” Chinatrust Financial said.
The would-be unit could also serve as a platform allowing the group to make inroads into China’s asset management market, the company said.
Chinatrust Financial vowed to retain all Truswell employees and their benefits, and honor all agreements with its customers.
As of July, the 13-year-old Truswell had NT$2.49 billion in assets under management and a net worth of NT$306 million following a capital reduction.
The offer, priced at 1.52 times Truswell’s book value, fell in line with market evaluations, Chinatrust Financial said.
Chinatrust Financial shares closed up 0.56 percent to NT$17.8 yesterday, stronger than the TAIEX’s 0.27 percent fall, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Currently, Chinatrust Financial has eight subsidiaries spanning the banking, life insurance, securities brokerage, insurance agency, venture capital and lottery distribution businesses.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
RSS