THE TAIWAN FUND, INC. (THE ‘FUND’)
MONTHLY INSIGHT

 

 

AUGUST 31, 2012

IN BRIEF

 

Net asset value per share		US$17.21
Market price		US$15.58
Premium/(discount)		(9.47%)
Total net assets		US$154.6m
Market cap		US$139.9m
Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company.
At August 31, 2012		US$ return
	Fund*	TAIEX Total
	%	Return Index†
		%
One month	2.8	2.9
Three months	4.7	4.7
One year	(11.5)	(3.9)
Three years % pa	9.2	10.1

 

 

Past performance is not a guide to future returns.

Returns are annualized, except for periods of less than one year.

 

*Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company.

NAV performance.

 

†Source: TWSE.

 

FUND MANAGERS

 

Wong Kok Hoi		James Liu

 

MANAGER’S COMMENTARY

 

Taiwan continued to face a tough external macroeconomic environment in August. There seemed to be no end in sight to the crisis in Europe, and investors increasingly expected that the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve would resort to further quantitative easing with an apparent lack of effective tools to tackle the root problems. Slower exports to the United States and Europe started to impact China’s manufacturing sector, which in turn affected demand for Taiwan-produced raw materials and electronic components. However, the Taiwanese market finished the month in positive territory, as the Executive Yuan proposed policies to sustain economic growth, including increased spending on public infrastructure and a more open stance towards investments from mainland China. The Taiwan Stock Exchange index (TWSE) gained 1.9% over the month, while the TAIEX Total Return index gained 2.9%.

 

Cross-strait relations developed further. In August 2012, an agreement to promote and protect cross-strait investments and a customs cooperation pact were finalized and signed in Taipei by Chiang Pin-kung, chairman of Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation, and his mainland counterpart, Chen Yunlin, president of the Association for Cross-Straits Relations. The long-awaited investment-protection pact is considered very important for Taiwan’s investment and trade links with the mainland, as it provides different ways to protect Taiwan’s business interests when disputes take place. At the same time, four more mainland cities have been approved to grant individual tourist visits to Taiwan, starting from August 28, 2012.

 

The economic outlook for Taiwan is still gloomy. Data from the Executive Yuan’s Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed Taiwan’s GDP unexpectedly shrank 0.16% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the first year-on-year contraction since the third quarter of 2009. The government trimmed its full-year economic growth forecast for the fifth time this year, to 2.08% from its previous estimate of 3.03%. The Council for Economic Planning and Development flashed its 9th blue light (signaling recession) for Taiwan’s business status in July. The second-quarter results of a large number of companies in the technology and manufacturing sectors came in below market expectations.

 

On the technology front, market expectations are mounting over new product launches in the third and fourth quarters. Following the release of Apple’s iPhone5 (on September 12, 2012), competitors including Nokia and Motorola are also ramping up momentum in launching new smartphone models.

 

 

 

MONTHLY INSIGHT

 

INVESTMENT REVIEW

 

Top contributors over the month included Hung Poo Real Estate Development and King’s Town Construction. The share prices of these Taiwanese property developers and others like them surged due to favorable policy statements. The finance minister suggested that the luxury tax on property transactions had effectively cooled down the property market and might be reviewed.

 

Another key positive contributor was retail-business operator Mercuries & Associates, as investor sentiment on cross-strait-concept stocks improved. With the residents of more cities in mainland China now eligible to visit Taiwan independently under the ‘individual traveler scheme’, retail companies like Mercuries are positioned to do well.

 

On the negative side, First Steamship, a shipping company which also owns a chain of department stores, was notably weak during the month. Low same-store growth in its Chinese department stores and pessimistic consumer sentiment caused its shares to decline over the month. The holding in Advantech also detracted from the Fund’s performance, after the company reported a month-on-month revenue drop of over 10% in July, as some product deliveries were postponed.

 

We made no new additions to the portfolio or outright sales in August.

 

 

 

 

 

For further information please go to www.thetaiwanfund.com.

Martin Currie Inc. took over management of the Fund on May 9, 2010.

 

 

 

FUND DETAILS

 

August 31, 2012

Shares outstanding	8,982,386
Exchange listed	NYSE
Listing date	1986
Investment manager	Martin Currie Inc

 

Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company.

 

PERFORMANCE		(US$ RETURNS)
(US$ returns)	NAV %	Market price %
One month	2.8	3.7
Three months	4.7	0.3
Three years % pa	9.2	10.4

  

Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Returns are annualized, except for periods of less than one year.

Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company.

 

SECTOR ALLOCATION
	Fund %*	Benchmark %†
Electronics	27.3	50.7
Construction	17.6	1.8
Wholesale and retail	14.8	5.9
Transportation	7.8	2.0
Healthcare	7.7	—
Textiles	6.4	1.8
Electric and machinery	4.8	1.3
Finance	4.6	12.5
Plastics	3.8	7.8
Cement	1.5	1.3
Steel and iron	—	2.7
Others	—	2.8
Chemicals	—	2.2
Foods	—	2.0
Rubber	—	1.8
Automobile	—	1.7
Tourism	—	0.6
Electrical appliance and cable	—	0.4
Glass and ceramics	—	0.4
Paper and pulp	—	0.3
Other assets and liabilities, net	3.7	—

 

*Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company.

†Source: TWSE.

 

15 LARGEST HOLDINGS*

  

63.0% of holdings	Sector	% of net assets
WT Microelectronics	Electronics	8.2
Mercuries & Associates	Wholesale and retail	5.4
YungShin Global Holding	Healthcare	5.3
Ruentex Development	Construction	4.7
First Steamship	Transportation	4.4
Advantech	Electronics	4.1
Aurora	Electronics	3.9
PC Home Online	Wholesale and retail	3.8
Yem Chio	Plastics	3.8
Yungtay Engineering	Electric and machinery	3.8
Makalot Industrial	Textiles	3.4
Wistron NeWeb	Electronics	3.2
Hung Poo Real Estate Development	Construction	3.1
Far Eastern New Century	Textiles	3.0
Taiflex Scientific	Electronics	2.9

 

*Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company.

 

PERFORMANCE						(US$ returns at August 31, 2012)
	One month	Three months	Calendar year	One year	Three years	Five years	Ten years	Since launch
	%	%	to date	%	% pa	% pa	% pa	% pa
			%
The Taiwan Fund, Inc.*	2.8	4.7	8.0	(11.5)	9.2	(1.6)	6.9	8.6
TAIEX Index†	1.9	1.0	5.7	(7.5)	6.0	(1.9)	5.9	8.3
TAIEX Total Return Index†	2.9	4.7	9.6	(3.9)	10.1	2.0	na	na
MSCI Taiwan Index†	3.0	3.7	8.1	(3.6)	8.9	0.2	7.6	na

 

Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Returns are annualized, except for periods of less than one year.

*Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company. Launch date December 23, 1986. Returns for the Fund are historical total returns that reflect changes in net asset value per share during each period and assume that dividends and capital gains, if any, were reinvested.

†Source: MSCI for the MSCI Taiwan Index and TWSE for the TAIEX Total Return Index and the TAIEX Index. For a full description of each index please see the index descriptions section.

Returns for the TAIEX Index are not total returns and reflect only changes in the share price but do not assume that cash dividends, if any, were reinvested, and thus are not strictly comparable to the Fund returns.

 

The TAIEX Total Return Index commenced January 1, 2003.

 

 

MONTHLY INSIGHT

 

PORTFOLIO IN FULL

 

	Company				% of
Sector	(BGB ticker)	Price	Holding	Value US$	net assets
ELECTRONICS					27.3
WT Microelectronics	3036 TT	NT$34.7	10,901,900	$12,630,494	8.2
Advantech	2395 TT	NT$104.0	1,808,100	$6,278,335	4.1
Aurora	2373 TT	NT$44.7	4,060,000	$6,059,297	3.9
Wistron NeWeb	6285 TT	NT$53.6	2,753,046	$4,926,823	3.2
Taiflex Scientific	8039 TT	NT$39.3	3,452,821	$4,530,595	2.9
GeoVision	3356 TT	NT$113.0	1,018,669	$3,843,264	2.5
MPI	6223 TT	NT$61.6	1,448,000	$2,978,091	1.9
Tatung	2371 TT	NT$6.1	4,770,897	$974,855	0.6
CONSTRUCTION					17.6
Ruentex Development	9945 TT	NT$50.2	4,315,082	$7,232,384	4.7
Hung Poo Real Estate Development	2536 TT	NT$29.4	4,929,873	$4,830,950	3.1
King’s Town Construction	2524 TT	NT$29.5	4,474,764	$4,399,913	2.8
Goldsun Development & Construction	2504 TT	NT$10.6	11,314,980	$4,004,500	2.6
Acter	5536 TT	NT$113.0	941,179	$3,550,907	2.3
Taiwan Land Development	2841 TT	NT$11.9	8,177,799	$3,235,515	2.1
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL					14.8
Mercuries & Associates	2905 TT	NT$27.4	9,178,175	$8,396,447	5.4
PC Home Online	8044 TT	NT$169.0	1,048,128	$5,914,114	3.8
Test-Rite International	2908 TT	NT$21.7	6,075,260	$4,401,627	2.9
Taiwan Tea	2913 TT	NT$15.3	8,231,000	$4,204,678	2.7
TRANSPORTATION					7.8
First Steamship	2601 TT	NT$30.0	6,714,000	$6,724,984	4.4
Farglory F T Z Investment Holding	5607 TT	NT$18.6	5,033,000	$3,117,163	2.0
Taiwan High Speed Rail	2633 TT	NT$5.2	12,597,600	$2,187,157	1.4
HEALTHCARE					7.7
YungShin Global Holding	3705 TT	NT$39.9	6,146,000	$8,187,553	5.3
Pacific Hospital Supply	4126 TT	NT$82.3	1,345,456	$3,697,073	2.4
TEXTILES					6.4
Makalot Industrial	1477 TT	NT$85.7	1,828,000	$5,230,530	3.4
Far Eastern New Century	1402 TT	NT$31.5	4,343,341	$4,567,969	3.0
ELECTRIC AND MACHINERY					4.8
Yungtay Engineering	1507 TT	NT$53.5	3,274,000	$5,848,185	3.8
Good Friend International Holdings	912398 TT	NT$11.0	4,145,000	$1,515,400	1.0
FINANCE					4.6
Yuanta Financial Holding	2885 TT	NT$13.9	9,631,900	$4,470,082	2.9
Union Bank of Taiwan	2838 TT	NT$10.7	7,507,000	$2,681,877	1.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Company				% of
Sector	(BGB ticker)	Price	Holding	Value US$	net assets
PLASTICS					3.8
Yem Chio	4306 TT	NT$29.6	5,979,833	$5,899,772	3.8
CEMENT					1.5
Wei Mon Industry	8925 TT	NT$15.5	4,513,854	$2,328,438	1.5
OTHER ASSETS AND LIABILITIES, NET				$5,745,101	3.7

 

 

 

MONTHLY INSIGHT

 

THE TAIWAN FUND, INC. PREMIUM/DISCOUNT

 

 

 

Source: State Street Bank and Trust Company as of August 31, 2012.

 

 

INDEX DESCRIPTIONS

 

TAIEX Index

The TWSE, or TAIEX Index is a capitalization-weighted index of all listed common shares traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The Index was based in 1966 and does not include re-invested dividends.

 

TAIEX Total Return Index

The TAIEX Total Return Index is a capitalization-weighted index of all listed common shares traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, based in 1966, which includes re-invested dividends.

 

MSCI Taiwan Index

The MSCI Total Return Taiwan Index is a free-float adjusted market capitalization index. The Index represents Taiwanese companies that are available to investors worldwide. The Index has a base date of December 31, 1987. As of August 31, 2012, it contained 114 constituents.

 

 

OBJECTIVE

 

The Fund was launched on December 23, 1986 to allow US and other investors to access and participate in the growth of the economy and the stock market in Taiwan, the Republic of China. The Fund’s investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation primarily through investments in equity securities listed in Taiwan. The Fund is a diversified, closed-end management investment company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol ‘TWN’.

 

Taiwan, with its global market leadership in high technology goods and its significant investments throughout mainland China and Southeast Asian economies, is now an integral economic player in the Asia Pacific Region as well as around the world. Investing in Taiwan not only allows investors to capitalize on Taiwan’s dynamic economy, but also allows investors to reap the growth and investment potential of the mainland China and other emerging economies of the region.

 

 

CONTACTS

 

 

The Taiwan Fund, Inc.

c/o State Street Bank and Trust Company

2 Avenue de Lafayette

PO Box 5049

Boston, MA 02111

Tel: (1) 877-864-5056

 

www.thetaiwanfund.com

 

 

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

 

 

This document is issued and approved by Martin Currie Inc (‘MC Inc’), as investment adviser of The Taiwan Fund, Inc. (the ‘Fund’). MC Inc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (‘FSA’) and incorporated under limited liability in New York, USA. Registered in Scotland (No BR2575), registered address Saltire Court, 20 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2ES. Information herein is believed to be reliable but has not been verified by MC Inc. MC Inc makes no representation or warranty and does not accept any responsibility in relation to such information or for opinion or conclusion which the reader may draw from this newsletter.

 

The Fund is classified as a diversified investment company under the US Investment Company Act of 1940 as amended. It meets the criteria of a closed ended US fund and its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. MC Inc has been appointed investment adviser to the Fund.

 

Investors are advised that they will not generally benefit from the rules and regulations of the United Kingdom Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the FSA for the protection of investors, nor benefit from the United Kingdom Financial Services Compensation Scheme, nor have access to the Financial Services Ombudsman in the event of a dispute. Investors will also have no rights of cancellation under the FSA’s Conduct of Business Sourcebook of the United Kingdom.

 

This newsletter does not constitute an offer of shares. MC Inc, its ultimate and intermediate holding companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, clients, directors or staff may, at any time, have a position in the market referred to herein, and may buy or sell securities, currencies, or any other financial instruments in such markets. The information or opinion expressed in this newsletter should not be construed to be a recommendation to buy or sell the securities, commodities, currencies or financial instruments referred to herein.

 

The information provided in this report should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell any particular security. There is no assurance that any securities discussed herein will remain in an account’s portfolio at the time you receive this report or that securities sold have not been repurchased.

 

It should not be assumed that any of the securities transactions or holdings discussed here were or will prove to be profitable, or that the investment recommendations or decisions we make in the future will be profitable or will equal the investment performance of the securities discussed herein.

 

Investing in the Fund involves certain considerations in addition to the risks normally associated with making investments in securities. The value of the shares issued by the Fund, and the income from them, may go down as well as up and there can be no assurance that upon sale, or otherwise, investors will receive back the amount originally invested. There can be no assurance that you will receive comparable performance returns, or that investments will reflect the performance of the stock examples contained in this document. Movements in foreign exchange rates may have a separate effect, unfavorable as well as favorable, on the gain or loss otherwise experienced on an investment. Past performance is not a guide to future returns. Accordingly, the Fund is only suitable for investment by investors who are able and willing to withstand the total loss of their investment. In particular, prospective investors should consider the following risks:

 

	It should be noted that investment in the Fund is only suitable for sophisticated investors who are aware of the risk of investing in Taiwan and should be regarded as long term. Funds which invest in one country carry a higher degree of risk than those with portfolios diversified across a number of markets.
	Investment in the securities of smaller and unquoted companies can involve greater risk than is customarily associated with investment in larger, more established, companies. In particular, smaller companies often have limited product lines, markets or financial resources and their management may be dependent on a smaller number of key individuals. In addition, the market for stock in smaller companies is often less liquid than that for stock in larger companies, bringing with it potential difficulties in acquiring, valuing and disposing of such stock. Proper information for determining their value, or the risks to which they are exposed, may not be available.
	Investments within emerging markets such as Taiwan can be of higher risk. Many emerging markets, and the companies quoted on their stock exchanges, are exposed to the risks of political, social and religious instability, expropriation of assets or nationalization, rapid rates of inflation, high interest rates, currency depreciation and fluctuations and changes in taxation which may affect the Fund's income and the value of its investments.
	The marketability of quoted shares may be limited due to foreign investment restrictions, wide dealing spreads, exchange controls, foreign ownership restrictions, the restricted opening of stock exchanges and a narrow range of investors. Trading volume may be lower than on more developed stockmarkets, and equities are less liquid. Volatility of prices can also be greater than in more developed stockmarkets. The infrastructure for clearing, settlement and registration on the primary and secondary markets may be undeveloped. Under certain circumstances, there may be delays in settling transactions in some of the markets.

 

 

 

Martin Currie Inc registered in Scotland (no BR2575)

 

Registered office: Saltire Court, 20 Castle Terrace, Edinburgh EH1 2ES

Tel: 44 (0) 131 229 5252 Fax: 44 (0) 131 228 5959 www.martincurrie.com

 

North American office: 1350 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 3010, New York,

NY 10019, USA Tel: (1) 212 258 1900 Fax: (1) 212 258 1919

 

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and incorporated with

limited liability in New York, USA. Registered with the SEC as an investment adviser.

 

Please note: calls to the above numbers may be recorded.