Hyosung Group bids for Hynix stake

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By Kim Young-gyo
SEOUL, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's conglomerate Hyosung Group has
submitted a bid for a major stake in the world's No. 2 memory chipmaker, credit
bank officials said Tuesday.
Hyosung Group, a conglomerate with business interests ranging from chemicals to
heavy machinery, was the only bidder for Hynix Semiconductor Co. The deadline for
bids closed at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) officials said.
The chipmaker was put under joint supervision by creditors in October 2001, when
it faced a credit crunch amid a faltering semiconductor business climate.
From 2001-2002, KEB and other creditors injected US$4.6 billion to bail out Hynix
by swapping the chipmaker's debts for stocks.
Hynix ended its debt workout program in May 2005, after the company raised $1.25
billion to pay off its debt. Creditors have retained a controlling stake since
then, selling only a portion of what they held.
Invitations for bids for the combined 28-percent stake in the company were sent
to only 43 South Korean companies about two weeks ago.
By Tuesday's deadline, Hynix creditors received a letter of intent only from
Hyosung. They earlier claimed four or five domestic companies had expressed their
intent to invest in Hynix.
Shares of Hynix closed Tuesday up 2.8 percent at 22,050 won.
The company reported its seventh straight quarterly loss of 58 billion won (US$48
million) in the second quarter, compared with a 711 billion won loss a year
earlier. Some analysts expect it will go back to black in the third quarter due
to a recovery in computer memory chip prices.
The stake sale, which is estimated by the sellers to be worth 3.65 trillion won,
is being managed by Credit Suisse Securities Ltd., Woori Investment & Securities
Co. and the state-run Korea Development Bank.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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