Taiwan’s regulator rejects CTBC’s attempted takeover of Shin Kong

Taiwan’s financial regulator on Monday rejected rival Shin Kong’s attempted takeover of financial conglomerate CTBC, saying its plans were incomplete.

CTBC made a surprise bid for Shin Kong last month, scrapping a proposal for Shin Kong to merge with another peer, Taishin. Shin Kong said that he considers Taishin as his favorite bidder.

Taiwan’s financial services industry is domestically concentrated and fragmented, and Taishin and Shin Kong hope that the merger will allow them to expand their footprint and become a more globally competitive company.

Taishin raises bid for Shin Kong in what could be Taiwan’s biggest financial deal

Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairman Chiu Shu-chen told reporters that CTBC’s plans were incomplete and that he had asked the company to provide additional documents for its bid, but not all of them met the regulator’s requirements.

However, the regulator still encourages the financial industry to make “benign” mergers and acquisitions that respect market order, she added.

CTBC said in a statement that it was disappointed but respected the decision.

Taishin said last week it would raise its bid for Shin Kong by 25 percent to about T$222.4 billion (US$6.98 billion) in a deal that would be the largest merger in Taiwan’s financial services industry.

($1 = 31.8680 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Faith Hung and Emily Chan; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)