Banks pull out of Taiwan roadshows

CSFB is reported to have been blocked from taking part in deals in China

A number of top investment banks have reportedly pulled out of organising investment conferences for Taiwan over fears of upsetting China's government.

Last week the Wall Street Journal Asia reported that Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) had been removed from an underwriting deal for the Chinese telecoms firm China Unicom.

It said this was because CSFB had organised investment roadshows in Hong Kong and Europe attended by senior officials from Taiwan.

The paper now reports that several other top investment banks who had been preparing similar conferences - including Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs - have cancelled their plans.

On Friday, US House of Representatives majority whip Tom DeLay criticised the decision to block CSFB from underwriting the deal.

He said China was "practicing a predatory pattern of international extortion that is incompatible with the principles of free trade and civilised relations".

The show goes on?

Taiwan recently launched a number of investment conferences to help stimulate its economy, which has recently begun to contract.

Despite the withdrawals by the banks, Taiwan's finance minister Yen Ching-chang said he remained upbeat about the prospects for the US roadshow.

"I believe the investment roadshow will be very successful," he told the Reuters news agency.

And he reckoned Taiwan could do it by itself.

"We don't have to find somebody else to help us... We had some experience from the roadshow in Europe so we think we can do it very well by ourselves," he said.