The struggle between the heirs to Evergreen Group (長榮集團) yesterday escalated as the three older brothers reportedly took drastic measures to undermine their younger brother’s accession to the helm of the family-run shipping and transportation empire.
The dramatic shift came two months after Evergreen Group founder Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) died on Jan. 20 and left a December 2014 will that named his youngest son, Chang Kuo-wei, (張國煒), chairman of Eva Airways (長榮航空) and the only son of his second wife, as his successor and the sole inheritor of his estate worth billions of New Taiwan dollars.
Chang Yung-fa’s eldest son, Chang Kuo-hua (張國華), led his two brothers by his father’s first wife in moving to dissolve the group’s top management team during an extraordinary board meeting, effectively stripping Chang Kuo-wei of the chairmanship, local media said, without naming sources.
In the absence of a chairman or management team, senior executives are to be dispatched to oversee the conglomerate’s subsidiaries, reports said.
The move reportedly aimed to deny Chang Kuo-wei leadership of the group after he allegedly disclosed their father’s will before the family agreed on the succession issue, the media said.
As the chairmanship is not protected by the law, disputes might boil down to the size of stakes held by rival heirs, reports said.
An Evergreen Group filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange showed that the three older brothers hold stakes of 34.7 percent and 54.56 percent respectively in the group’s main subsidiaries, Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運) and Evergreen International Storage & Transportation Corp (榮運), compared with 6.83 percent and 2.3 percent held by Chang Kuo-wei.
Chang Kuo-wei might even lose the chairmanship of EVA Airways, reports said.
He holds a 14.67 percent stake in the airline, compared with 31.65 percent held by his stepbrothers, who might seek to oust him during the company’s board meeting next month, or during a board of directors election scheduled for June, reports said.
A move to oust Chang Kuo-wei from the airline would require support from independent board members, who were installed under his watch, reports said.
Chang Kuo-wei could also seek endorsement from foreign institutional investors, who hold a 26.38 percent stake in EVA Airways and can forge alliances with others to bolster his stake in the airline by NT$4 billion (US$119.16 million), reports said.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
RSS