Taiwan's Acer Group says a fire which spread through an office complex housing many of its subsidiaries has caused about US$20.3 million in damage.
The two-day old fire, which was still smoldering in the suburban Taipei office complex, had not affected a tower occupied by the head office of the group's flagship computer maker, Acer said.
"The great fortune in this misfortune is that it has not affected the headquarters of Acer Inc and Acer Sertek ," Acer Group chairman Stan Shih told a news conference.
Acer Sertek, which manufactures and markets computers for the Taiwan market, and Acer Inc are based in a building separated by a 50-metre exhibition hall from a block of three office towers where the fire began, and were unscathed, he said.
Shih said the blaze would not affect ability to ship products from factories elsewhere in Taiwan and in mainland China. Acer Sertek and Acer Inc planned to resume normal business on Monday if traffic restrictions to the area were lifted.
The offices of Internet transaction verifications service HiTrust, which is seeking an over-the-counter listing in Taiwan, was also destroyed, but only a limited number of business-to-business transactions would be affected, he said.
He said the Acer Group's main insurer was Zurich Financial. The fire in northern Taiwan's Eastern Science Park broke out on Saturday morning and was swiftly put out by firefighters, but rekindled hours later after firefighters left the scene and the building was locked again for the weekend.
As of Sunday afternoon local time, the fire was still smoldering in the 26-storey office complex, making it the longest-burning building fire in Taiwan's history, evening newspapers quoted the National Fire Administration chief as saying.
Acer officials said firefighting efforts were hampered by the size of the building, which was taller than the Taipei County fire department's tallest ladder truck.
No casualties were reported. The cause was still under investigation.
