Hynix CEO: Counterproposal this week
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
SEOUL -- Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (Q.HYY) and Micron Technology Inc. (MU) will decide within this month whether to continue with negotiations over the proposed alliance between the two chipmakers, Hynix Chief Executive Park Chong-sup said Wednesday.
Hynix will send Micron a counterproposal on the terms of the alliance this week. The counterproposal has revised the original proposal from Micron, to reflect Hynix's creditors opinions on key issues, Park said.
"Creditors are mixed over Micron's terms of offer, but there is still a 50% chance of a deal with Micron," Park said.
Negotiations can fall through if disagreements between Micron and creditors persist, he said.
Micron reportedly demanded a response from creditors to its initial proposal by next Thursday.
Park said creditors had long been considering helping the company survive on its own before they received an alliance proposal from Micron. The option would be seriously considered if talks with Micron collapse, he said.
Monday, Hynix's board discussed the possibility of the company surviving on its own if it gets creditors' full support. Key creditors also decided they couldn't accept some terms offered by Micron and would instead make a counterproposal to continue negotiations.
Micron and Hynix, the world's second and third largest memory chipmakers, respectively, have been in alliance talks since December.
Separately, South Korea's Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Shin Kook-hwan said a potential tie-up between Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co. (Q.SSE) would be in exports.
Shin was clarifying his previous comments. Earlier Wednesday, he said during a meeting with chief executives of key semiconductor companies that Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chipmaker, and Hynix need to forge a strategic alliance for the sake of the local economy and semiconductor industry.
"I meant that Samsung and Hynix should cooperate to boost the country's semiconductor exports," he later said.
Both chief executives of Samsung and Hynix said a potential alliance wasn't addressed in Monday's meeting. They also said they weren't considering an alliance at present.
At 0130 GMT (8:30 p.m. EST Tuesday), shares of Samsung Electronics were down 0.6% at 340,500 won ($1=KRW1,321). Hynix was up for the first time since last Thursday when details of Micron's proposal was first reported. It gained 1.9% to KRW1,835.
-By Suh Hae-sung and So-Eui Rhee, Dow Jones Newswires; 822-732-2165; hae-sung.suh@dowjones.com
Updated February 19, 2002 9:00 p.m. EST
online.wsj.com |
