 |
|
Bulletin: Fuhwa Bank Ratings Unchanged After Acquisition Announcement
Taiwan Ratings Corp.
today said that the announcement on Jan. 5, 2005 by Fuhwa Bank (twA-/Stable/twA-2),
that it will acquire Tainan Seventh Credit Cooperative, has no immediate
impact on its credit ratings and rating outlook given the relatively small
transaction size. Fuhwa Bank will reportedly pay NT$289 million for the
credit cooperative, which is equivalent to about 2% of the bank's common
equity. The actual cost is likely to be higher after final adjustments
have been made, but Fuhwa Bank's overall financial profile is unlikely
to change much as a result of the acquisition, since the credit cooperative
will only increase the bank's current loan base by less than 3%. The bank
completed two similar transactions in the past two years, which boosted
its number of branches to the current 50. Following the latest deal, Fuhwa
Bank's number of branches is expected to increase to 58 in total.
|
|
