PDF(2.7mb) - 國家政策研究基金會

202 Taiwan Development Perspectives 2009
nel the required funding, management know-how, and
techniques to high-tech industries and provide necessary
assistance in the IPO process for the sector as well.
Generally speaking, the venture capital business strategy
and functions are as follows:
(1) Making investments in emerging technology companies
that are rapidly growing;
(2) Providing assistance for emerging technology companies
in products or manufacturing technology innovations;
(3) Taking high risks in pursuit of great returns;
(4) Investments in emerging technology companies are
primarily in the form of stocks;
(5) Offering high value-added assistance through participation
in the operations and decision-making
process of the invested firms; and
(6) Making strategic plans for long term investments.
Venture capital is distinct from the usual types of
investment institutions, because it not only serves as a
fund provider, but also gives support in business connections
and techniques development for the invested
firms. They focus on the start-ups in the high-tech sector,
although they are not allowed to invest in either
non-manufacturing industries or stocks traded on the
open market. For high-tech industries, venture capital
has created a well-established business environment for
the management teams and laid a solid foundation for
sustainable growth of this sector.
One of the primary functions of venture capital is
to provide funding support for the start-ups in the
emerging technology sectors. Since they exist for the
same purposes as OTC, which aims to facilitate liquidity
in capital markets and thus create an efficient financing
channel for SMEs as well as emerging technology
firms, venture capitalists shall be allowed to be
listed as TIGER (Taiwan Innovative Growing Entrepreneurs)
stocks in OTC. While the number of institutional
or individual venture capital shareholders has
significantly declined since their favorable tax deduction
were called off in 1999, obtaining convenient access
to public financing is particularly critical to the
revitalization of venture capital businesses now. Unfortunately,
however, it seems that the proposal is unable
to receive positive supports from the securities authorities
are reluctant to render support and the venture capital
businesses are still plagued by funding difficulties.
Besides, the venture capital businesses, which
generally yield 5 to 10 times as much return as investments
in traditional industries, shall be very popular to
the investors in the open markets. Therefore, allowing
venture capital businesses to be listed on the TIGER
board will not only enable them to have access to public
funding, but will also improve the liquidity of the
OTC market.
Even though there is plenty of idle capital in the
private sector, the prolonged downturn in the stock
markets and the rapid depreciation in the NTD have
made the public much more conservative about investment,
resulting in the general underestimation of corporate
value as well as the prevalence of private placement
for the M&A of high-tech firms since 2006.
2. SME Credit Guarantee Fund
SMEs have made significant contributions to the
economic growth of Taiwan. However, due to the information
asymmetry emerging from the financial system
deficiency in SMEs, their financing is usually regarded
as risky. When they seek bank loans, SMEs are
either charged unreasonably high interest rates or unable
to get sufficient funding to sustain their operation.
To facilitate the growth of SMEs, the government
started to attach importance to counseling services in
the early 1960’s. In February 1964, a task force specialized
in the counseling services for SMEs was established
by the International Economic Cooperation and
Development Committee. In September 1967, the
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Guidance Regulations,
which clearly defined the appropriate targets of
the counseling services, was approved and put into