Tsai Eng-meng not ready to talk to Wang Zheng about ATV yet

Taiwanese snacks tycoon Tsai Eng-meng says he will not talk to mainland property billionaire Wang Zheng about collaboration in struggling broadcaster Asia Television until Wang becomes a shareholder.

Tsai, one of the biggest investors in ATV, said he had signed a contract with the Cha family, the station's main shareholders,

'We didn't sign anything with Wang. I haven't even met him,' said Tsai, who last week offered a loan to the financially troubled broadcaster but was rejected.

Wang, who has offered to buy the stakes of main shareholders Payson Cha Mou-sing and Johnson Cha Mou-daid, has pledged to turn ATV into Asia's CNN.

In an interview with the Hong Kong media in Shanghai, Tsai said that when he invested in ATV, it was a time of financial crisis and the TV station was struggling. He said he knew that ATV now had financial trouble again, and he was willing to loan it money, but on condition that Wang's relative James Shing, a director appointed by Cha, be removed from the role of executive director that he has been playing for about a month.

'I'm willing to loan money, but I have my own interests too,' Tsai said. 'We have to protect the existing management structure by removing the executive director ... there was no executive director in the original company structure.'

ATV's chief executive, Nancy Hu, said recently that the operation of the broadcaster had been disrupted because of the appointment of the executive director.