Taipei 101

January 3, 2018

The Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, on 02 January 2018. According to Taiwan press, Japan's Itochu Corp plans to spend 600 million US dollars to acquire 37.2 percent stake in the Taipei Financial Center Corporation which manages the Taipei 101, from Taiwan's food giant Ting Hsin International Group.

If the application is approved by Taiwan's Investment Commission, Itochu will become the second-largest shareholder of Taipei 101 after Taiwan's Finance Ministry which holds 52 per cent stake.

Ting Hsin group began consiidering selling its stake in Taipei 101 after it was involved in the cooking oil scandal in 2013, the biggest food safety scandal in Taiwan, and its image was damagedl.

In recent years, several foreign firms have sought to buy stake in Taipei 101. In 2014, Malaysia's IOI (Ed: it is ioi, pls do not write 101) Properties sought to buy Ting Hsin's 37.2 per cent stake in Taipei 101 for 790 million US dollars, but dropped the deal after Finance Minister Chang Sheng-ford opposed the purchase, saying Taipei 101 is a national landmark and should not be controlled by foreigners. Jiji Press