A battle for control of Taiwan’s oldest privately owned company is forcing regulators to balance the need to ensure corporate governance in the country’s business world with blocking Beijing’s infiltration of its boardrooms.
At an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on October 21, a group of activist investors plans to oust Lin Kuo Wen-yen, the chairwoman of Tatung, a conglomerate whose businesses range from handling government information systems to making rice cookers.
For Ms Lin Kuo, whose husband’s grandfather founded the company in 1918, the fight is personal. But for Taiwan’s regulators the tussle over the lossmaking company that has been hit by scandals represents a dilemma.