SK Hynix To Invest In Toshiba Chip Deal -- WSJ

By Kwanwoo Jun 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (September 28, 2017).

The board of SK Hynix Inc. has approved the South Korean chip maker's participation in a Bain Capital-led consortium that plans to buy Toshiba Corp.'s memory-chip unit for Yen2 trillion ($18 billion).

A stake in the Toshiba unit would give SK Hynix a bigger presence in the NAND chip market, where it lags behind its rivals. Toshiba is the world's second-biggest NAND chip producer, next to South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. But SK Hynix's partial ownership in the Toshiba unit could also potentially raise antitrust challenges.

SK Hynix said in a written statement Wednesday it will invest Yen395 billion, of which Yen129 billion will take the form of convertible bonds that it expects to change later into equity for as much as 15% of the voting rights in the Toshiba chip unit.

The Bain-led consortium will hold 49.9% of the voting rights, while Toshiba will hold 40.2% and Japan's Hoya Corp will own 9.9%, the statement said.

Toshiba's board last week agreed to sell its chip unit to the Bain consortium, but the signing of the deal has yet to be done.

The consortium will try to complete the purchase deal by March in 2018, SK Hynix said in the statement.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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