Hynix Semiconductor Inc’s creditor banks have reached a provisional agreement to pump cash into the money-losing memory chipmaker, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The mass circulation newspaper JoongAng Ilbo said that five banks agreed to provide Hynix with 800 billion won (US$570.47 million) in assistance, citing financial industry sources it did not identify.
A total of 500 billion won would be in the form of loans, with the rest in fresh capital, the paper quoted an unidentified person close to the creditors as saying.
Korea Exchange Bank, the company’s largest creditor, said that nothing had been decided.
Bank spokesman Kim Eun-young said the five creditors held a meeting on Monday during which they each agreed to formulate a stance. Those positions were to be confirmed next Friday, she said, though did not elaborate.
Hynix spokeswoman Park Seong-ae said the company had not been officially informed of any decision by creditors.
Hynix, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of computer memory chips after Samsung Electronics Co, has racked up four straight quarters of net losses amid a long slump in the semiconductor industry.
The Icheon, South Korea-based firm has said it wants to raise up to 1 trillion won in funds to avoid a potential cash shortfall.
Hynix said on Sunday it would save money by slashing top officials’ pay, cutting executive ranks, encouraging workers to quit and making all employees take two weeks of unpaid leave between January and April next year.
Semiconductor manufacturers have been hurt by a prolonged decline in chip prices because of oversupply.
Hynix recorded a net loss of 1.65 trillion won in the three months ended Sept. 30, its fourth straight quarter of red ink.
A total of nine creditors hold about 36 percent of Hynix shares.
Among them are five banks — Korea Exchange Bank, Korea Development Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation.
The banks make up the steering committee for the creditors, Kim said.
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