According to news reports, Taiwan’s government wants to sell a 17 per cent stake in Chunghwa Telecom, the country’s biggest telephone company, by June in a deal worth about $3.4 billion.

According to news reports, Taiwan’s government wants to sell a A 17 per cent stake in Chunghwa Telecom, the country’s biggest telephone company, by June in a deal worth about $3.4 billion.

The sale would be the island’s largest ever secondary share offering. The sale of a 15 per cent stake held by the MOTC and a further 2 per cent held by government funds would bring the government’s holding in Chunghwa below 50 per cent, completing its long-awaited privatisation. The Taipei administration is set to use at least a part of the proceeds, which could total more than T$105 billion (US$3.4 billion), to reduce a budget deficit expected to reach T$277 billion this year.