Pacific Venture looks to fabless, green investments

* Sees fabless, green energy firms as good investments

* Eyes tech companies benefitting from closer China ties

* Watching UMC-HeJian case closely

TAIPEI, June 16 (Reuters) - Asian venture capital company
Pacific Venture Partners on Tuesday said it sees fabless
semiconductor companies and the clean energy sector as good
investments, although high spending in some solar energy firms
might be a deterrent.

Pacific Venture, which manages a fund of $800 million, was
also betting on technology sectors that would benefit from closer
Taiwan and China ties, Partner Ben Yang told reporters on the
sidelines of a private equity and venture capital forum.

"We are interested in fabless companies and we believe there
will still be cross-border fabless investment opportunities,"
Yang said. "We can restructure a couple of private companies
across the strait and make them more competitive than before."

Taiwan has forged closer trade ties with China since
President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008 and opened up the
island's tourism and transportation sectors to more Chinese
investments.

Pacific Venture, which puts 80 percent of its funds into
technology companies in greater China, is now monitoring closely
how the Taiwan government handles the United Microelectronics
Corp (2303.TW) (UMC.N) and its investment in China's HeJian
Technology.

"The UMC case can serve as a very good landmark to see how
far the Taiwan government will go," Yang said. "If in the next
six months we see a very satisfactory result, then we think the
government is very open-minded about cross strait policy."

Several years ago, UMC came under fire from the Taiwan
government for investing in HeJian as it did not comply with
regulations.

In June, shareholders approved a plan to purchase a remaining
85 percent stake in HeJian, but the acquisition remains subject
to approval by the Taiwan government.

Pacific Venture, which has offices in Taipei, Shanghai and
Suzhou, has been investing mainly in technology companies since
it was set up in 1990.

Some of its investments include Chinese solar energy Suntech
Power Holdings (STP.N), top contract chipmaker Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (2330.TW) (TSM.N) and
Taiwanese chip designer Mediatek (2454.TW).

The company plans to invest in more companies in Taiwan's
fast-growing solar energy sector, an area that major Taiwanese
companies such as TSMC hopes to develop in coming years.

"It is relatively challenging for China companies to go into
thin-film, so I think there is a good chance for Taiwan's
thin-film companies to move forward," Yang said.

"But this is a high capex investment, so I'm not so sure it's
ideal for VCs (venture capital companies) in the early stage."
(Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee and Rachel Lee)