Taiwanese Venture Capitalist Arrested

Jabil -- a company based in St. Petersburg, Florida that designs and makes electronics components -- struck a deal last November to acquire Taiwan's Green Point Enterprise for about US$880 million (euro620 million).

Wen Ko, chairman of Taiwan's WK Technology Fund, was detained Wednesday with two other company executives for making profits of up to NT$100 million (US$3 million, euro2.1 million) on the buyout, prosecutor Lin Chin-tsun said.

Ko bought shares in Green Point before the deal was made public and then sold them after the deal was revealed, the prosecutor said.

Taiwan's China Times newspaper quoted unidentified investigators as saying Ko purchased Green Point's shares through several subsidiaries of his company after learning about the planned buyout from a Green Point board member.

The three men will be detained pending the filing of formal charges to prevent them from colluding to give misleading information, officials said.

Green Point's shares rose more than 10 percent in the month following the acquisition.

WK Technology is Taiwan's largest venture capital company. The fund has invested in more than 240 startup companies, of which some 100 have gone public, according to the company's Web site.