Creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc, the best performing stock among major chipmakers, said they plan to sell a third of their stake this year, valued at US$2 billion, to recoup a portion of two bailouts of the company.
Korea Exchange Bank and other lenders, which injected US$4.6 billion into Hynix in 2001 and 2002, ended joint supervision today after the company raised US$1.25 billion to pay off debt, paving the way for a sale, the lender said in a statement in Seoul. Creditors will sell a 24 percent stake this year, retaining 50 percent for an unspecified period, they said.
Hynix, based in Ichon, South Korea, earned record profit and its shares doubled last year as chip demand surged. LG Electronics Inc and Samsung Electronics Co have ruled out buying Hynix, which has to spend billions of dollars each year to compete in a US$27 billion industry that's forecast to shrink for the next two years.
"Now the focus turns to how creditors are going to dispose of their stake and finding an owner for Hynix," said Lee Seung-moon, who owns Hynix shares amid the equivalent of US$220 million he manages at Midas Asset Management Co in Seoul. "Progress in finding an owner should be positive for the stock."
Creditors agreed to form a committee to decide how best to dispose of their stake, according to the statement. The banks at present own about 75 percent of Hynix, Korea Exchange spokeswoman Lee Nahm Yon said. She declined to comment on plans for the remaining 50 percent stake.
Moody's Investors Service today raised its credit rating on Hynix's US business five levels after the banks ended supervision. The rating company raised Hynix Semiconductor Manufacturing America Inc to Ba3, two levels below investment grade, from Caa2, in line with the parent's rating.
LG Electronics is interested in buying Hynix to expand its business into making chips, Maeil Business newspaper reported yesterday, citing an executive at LG it didn't identify. LG Electronics, South Korea's second-largest electronics maker after Samsung Electronics, said it had no plans to bid for Hynix.
Chu Woo-sik, head of investor relations at Samsung, the world's largest computer memory maker, has said the company isn't interested in buying Hynix.
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