Shareholders of Shin Kong Financial Holding and Taishin Financial Holding have voted to merge their two groups, that would create Taiwan's fourth-biggest financial services group.
The voting took place on 9 October 2024 at separate extraordinary general meetings of the two companies. 92.72% of Taishin's common shareholders in attendance voted for the merger, while 72.29% of Shin Kong’s common shareholders agreed to the deal.
Under the merger plan, Taishin Financial Holding will be the surviving company and Shin Kong will be delisted from the Taipei Exchange and wound up. The enlarged group is to be renamed Taishin Shin Kong Financial Holding.
The proposed merger, which will be effected via a share swap, will be sent to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) for approval.
The boards of directors of Taishin and Shin Kong initially agreed to a merger plan on 22 August 2024, reported Central News Agency. However, CTBC Financial Holding Co launched a bid to buy Shin Kong, which is the parent company of Shin Kong Life.
Faced with the competition, Taishin submitted a new merger proposal on 11 September, raising the stock swap ratio to 0.672 Taishin Financial common shares for each Shin Kong common share, up from the previous ratio of 0.6022. Taishin also offered to exchange 0.175 preferred shares for one Shin Kong preferred share to sweeten the deal.
CTBC's hostile takeover bid was rejected by the FSC on 16 September on the grounds that it lacked a comprehensive plan to implement the acquisition. CTBC later announced that it was dropping its takeover bid.