Far Eastern Group suspends investments in Taiwan

08 May '12

2 min read

Far Eastern Group, a Taiwanese conglomerate that was founded in China in 1937, has announced suspension of all its investments in Taiwan over a row with the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

The announcement was made by Douglas Hsu, Chairman of the Group, after the Department of Commerce gave a green signal for holding a shareholders meeting and reshuffling the board of Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co. over the next three months.

Mr. Hsu said the move would weaken the Far Eastern Group's ownership of Pacific Sogo Department Stores.

Citing the MOEA's decision as illegal, Mr. Hsu said the Sogo ownership litigation is pending with courts and hence the decision puts a question mark on legality of the interim managers at Pacific Distribution Investment Co., a holding company for Sogo Department Stores.

The interim managers at Pacific Distribution had put forward the proposal to convey a shareholders meeting and restructure the board.

The Group said the MOEA should not have approved the proposal for a shareholders meeting as a local district court had already said that the current Sogo board under Chairperson Sophia Huang is legal.

The Far Eastern Group has operations in ten major business areas including textiles, retailing and petrochemicals. It also owns the Far Eastern Department Stores Co.

The Group had gained control of Pacific Distribution from Sogo's owner – Pacific Construction Co. – in September 2002. However, there is an ongoing legal battle over Sogo's ownership between the Far Eastern Group and Pacific Construction.

Meanwhile, a new dispute has emerged between Pacific Distribution and Far Eastern Group over whether the Group is only a shareholder in Sogo or it also has management rights for Sogo.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Apparel/Garments News - Taiwan...