萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) plans to amend the “Criteria for Handling the Acquisition and Disposal of Assets by Public Companies” in order to enhance control of the acquisition or disposal of public companies’ assets.

Under the current regulations, a transaction must be approved by the board of directors and recognized by the supervisors only if the public company intends to acquire real property. The new regulations will require approval by the public company’s board and recognition by the supervisors:

(1) when the company seeks to acquire or dispose of real property, irrespective of the value of the real property; (2) when acquiring or disposing other assets of a value of at least 20% or more of the company’s paid-in capital or NT$ 300 million or 10% of the company’s total assets.

In addition, under the current regulations, a public company acquiring or disposing of assets in connection with investment in China must publicly announce and report the relevant information on the FSC's designated website, irrespective of the amount.

However, the FSC has stated that there is no difference between investment in China and other foreign countries. Consequently, in the future, the new regulations will prescribe that public companies have a duty of disclosure only where the value of an asset transaction reaches certain amounts in connection with an investment in China.