Ideal To Seek Capital In Taiwan Exchange

TAICHUNG, Taiwan (31 January) – The Ideal Bike Corporation, which produces around 400,000 bicycles per year, recently announced that it will seek listing on Taiwan’s OTC (over the counter) stock index sometime later this year. Company officials said that the funds raised through the stock issue will provide the company with the means to upgrade and enhance its products, and also expand capacity. Listing on Taiwan’s OTC index is a preliminary step toward listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, Taiwan’s main index. When Ideal attains its OTC listing, it will become the sixth bicycle company in Taiwan to list on the nation’s two-tiered securities market. The others are Giant, Merida, Falcon, Lee Chi, and Sun Race, which listed last March. All but Giant, however, saw their stocks record extremely poor performances in 2000. Ideal presently specializes in mid-/high-end full suspension bikes and electric bikes, producing them at two factories, one in Dongguan in central Taiwan and one in Poland. In 2000, the Dongguan plant produced 300,000 bicycles, while the Poland plant rolled out 40,000 trekking and city bikes. This year, Ideal plans to boost output to between 500,000 and 600,000 bicycles in Taiwan and 100,000 bicycles in Poland, company officials said. Ideal’s operating revenue for 2000 was US$ 81.3 million. (DF)