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Relevant Laws

Title:Regulations Governing the Acquisition and Disposal of Assets by Public Companies (2022.01.28)
Article 16     A public company that acquires real property or right-of-use assets thereof from a related party shall evaluate the reasonableness of the transaction costs by the following means:
  1. Based upon the related party's transaction price plus necessary interest on funding and the costs to be duly borne by the buyer. "Necessary interest on funding" is imputed as the weighted average interest rate on borrowing in the year the company purchases the property; provided, it may not be higher than the maximum non-financial industry lending rate announced by the Ministry of Finance.
  2. Total loan value appraisal from a financial institution where the related party has previously created a mortgage on the property as security for a loan; provided, the actual cumulative amount loaned by the financial institution shall have been 70 percent or more of the financial institution's appraised loan value of the property and the period of the loan shall have been 1 year or more. However, this shall not apply where the financial institution is a related party of one of the transaction counterparties.

    Where land and structures thereupon are combined as a single property purchased or leased in one transaction, the transaction costs for the land and the structures may be separately appraised in accordance with either of the means listed in the preceding paragraph.
    A public company that acquires real property or right-of-use assets thereof from a related party and appraises the cost of the real property or right-of-use assets thereof in accordance with the preceding two paragraphs shall also engage a CPA to check the appraisal and render a specific opinion.
    Where a public company acquires real property or right-of-use assets thereof from a related party and one of the following circumstances exists, the acquisition shall be conducted in accordance with the preceding article, and the preceding three paragraphs do not apply:
  1. The related party acquired the real property or right-of-use assets thereof through inheritance or as a gift.
  2. More than 5 years will have elapsed from the time the related party signed the contract to obtain the real property or right-of-use assets thereof to the signing date for the current transaction.
  3. The real property is acquired through signing of a joint development contract with the related party, or through engaging a related party to build real property, either on the company's own land or on rented land.
  4. The real property right-of-use assets for business use are acquired by the public company with its parent or subsidiaries, or by its subsidiaries in which it directly or indirectly holds 100 percent of the issued shares or authorized capital.
Article 18     Where a public company acquires real property or right-of-use assets thereof from a related party and the results of appraisals conducted in accordance with the preceding two articles are uniformly lower than the transaction price, the following steps shall be taken:
  1. A special reserve shall be set aside in accordance with Article 41, paragraph 1 of the Act against the difference between the real property transaction price and the appraised cost, and may not be distributed or used for capital increase or issuance of bonus shares. Where a public company uses the equity method to account for its investment in another company, then the special reserve called for under Article 41, paragraph of the Act shall be set aside pro rata in a proportion consistent with the share of public company's equity stake in the other company.
  2. Supervisors shall comply with Article 218 of the Company Act. Where an audit committee has been established in accordance with the provisions of the Act, the preceding part of this subparagraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to the independent director members of the audit committee.
  3. Actions taken pursuant to the preceding two subparagraphs shall be reported to a shareholders meeting, and the details of the transaction shall be disclosed in the annual report and any investment prospectus.

    A public company that has set aside a special reserve under the preceding paragraph may not utilize the special reserve until it has recognized a loss on decline in market value of the assets it purchased or leased at a premium, or they have been disposed of, or the leasing contract has been terminated, or adequate compensation has been made, or the status quo ante has been restored, or there is other evidence confirming that there was nothing unreasonable about the transaction, and the FSC has given its consent.
    When a public company obtains real property or right-of-use assets thereof from a related party, it shall also comply with the preceding two paragraphs if there is other evidence indicating that the acquisition was not an arms length transaction.