Creditors agree to pump 1.3 tln won into Hynix

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SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- Creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. agreed to
inject 1.3 trillion won (US$960 million) in a bid to ease cash strains facing the
chip maker, creditor bank officials said Wednesday.
Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), the main creditor of the world's second-largest chip
maker, said that nine creditors agreed to help Hynix increase its liquidity, with
measures including a rights offering worth 700 billion won.
Under the agreement, creditors will make an additional 200 billion won available
for the capital expenditure and extend the maturity of debt, KEB officials said.
The agreement was made after the stock market closed. Shares of Hynix closed at
16,650 won on the Seoul bourse, up 14.83 percent.
Some analysts say the new financial aid may indicate a slow recovery in the
semiconductor industry, which has been severely battered by a long price slump.
Hynix's German rival, Qimonda AG, declared bankruptcy early this year.
It is the second financial support for the chipmaker since last December, when
creditors provided 800 billion won in funding.
In the second quarter of this year, the average selling price of dynamic random
access memory (DRAM) chips is expected to rise about 30 percent from the previous
quarter as Taiwanese chipmakers have cut output, said Shinyoung Securities
analyst Lee Seung-woo.
Despite an expected recovery in DRAM prices, the analyst expected Hynix to post a
net loss of 908 billion won on sales of 6.3 trillion won this year.
Hynix is scheduled to release its earnings for the first quarter of 2009 on Friday.
Last year, Hynix reported a net loss of 4.36 trillion won, compared with a net
profit of 346.3 billion in 2007, on sales of 6.5 trillion won.
Creditors of Hynix said earlier they plan to complete the sale of the company by
September this year.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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