Taishin Financial may sell some property assets

Taishin Financial Holding Co. Ltd, the eighth largest financial-service provider by assets in Taiwan, is likely to sell part of its unused property assets to prepare for fundraising programs, sources reported citing president Lin Keh-hsiao as saying.

The Taipei-headquartered company was urged by the island's banking regulators to launch financing program before the end of this year, as asset-liability ratio of Taishin Financial surged to 51.07% as of end-June this year, which is higher than the 30% limit regulated by relevant authorities.

Taishin Financial, whose major investors include Canada-based Newbridge Capital Inc and billionaire investor George Soros, planned to raise additional funds later this year, with an effort to tap the banking and securities markets in mainland China. It decided to float 750 million new shares later this year. However the issue price has not been decided yet.

Earlier this year, the company said it suffered a loss of 78% in net profit for the first quarter due to units' decreasing contributions. The Taiwanese company said in a statement that in the three months ending Mar. 31, unaudited net income tumbled to NTD 400 million or NTD 0.01 apiece, compared with NTD 1.82 billion or NTD 0.046 apiece, a year earlier.