Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Micron Only Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Graybill who wrote (43870)	3/16/1999 9:51:00 AM
From: phbolton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 53903

John wrote "it's the content of the postings that matters, not the person posting them". Well, except for bateman/grim that is <g>.

To: John Graybill who wrote (43870)	3/16/1999 10:21:00 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 53903

Korea's Hyundai seen raising cash for LG takeover By Kim Myong-hwan SEOUL, March 16 (Reuters) - South Korean chipmaker Hyundai Electronics will be able to raise enough cash to take over LG Semicon through asset sales, rights issues and foreign investment but a deal is months away from completion, analysts said on Tuesday. Hyundai Electronics said on Monday it was selling its chip-packaging subsidiary in the United States, ChipPAC Co, for $550 million to U.S.-based equity investment companies. Only a month ago, the chip producer announced it raised $306 million through equity and debt sales by its U.S. affiliate, Maxtor Corp (Nasdaq:MXTR - news). ''Hyundai Electronics has already secured more than half of what it aimed to raise in foreign capital this year,'' said Rhee Ki-hong, analyst at HSBC Securities. ''It can also issue new shares and sell more assets.'' In January, LG Group [LUGG.CN] agreed to hand over the management of LG Semicon to Hyundai Electronics as part of a government-initiated restructuring drive to cut overcapacity in key industries. But negotiations on takeover conditions have stalled over the pricing of LG Semicon. Hyundai is offering to pay about one trillion won ($816 million) but LG wants four trillion won in cash, industry sources said. Hyundai said the company planned to bring in $1.55 billion of foreign funds this year to improve its financial status, on top of the $2.1 billion it raised overseas last year. It sold its U.S. non-memory chip affiliate Symbios Inc last July to LSI Logic Corp (NYSE:LSI - news), listed shares of Maxtor on the Nasdaq in the United States for $350 million and floated $50 million in convertible bonds. As a result, Hyundai Electronics' debt-to-equity ratio dropped to 446 percent at the end of 1998 from 688 percent a year earlier, a company spokesman said. ''We will be able to bring the ratio down further to 200 percent by the end of this year as we promised,'' said the spokesman. The takeover of LG Semicon would not hinder Hyundai's plan to lower the debt ratio as LG's debt-to-equity ratio had been reduced to close to 200 percent. Hyundai Electronics was saddled with about 10 trillion won of debts at the end of 1998, against equity of 2.3 trillion won, while LG Semicon had debts of 5.1 trillion won againt 2.1 trillion won in equity, analysts said. ''The progress of the talks seems to be a bit slow,'' said Koo Hee-jin, analyst at Daishin Economic Research Institute. ''But they will find the middle ground in a few months.'' Analysts said Hyundai Electronics could hand over to LG all of the shares in telecommunications firm Dacom Corp held by Hyundai Group [HYGR.CN] companies, estimated to be worth 900 billion won. ''We think the takeover of LG Semicon would be completed by August,'' said the Hyundai spokesman. The merger of the two Korean chip producers could lure big foreign names into strategic alliances, analysts said. ''Hyundai Electronics could emerge as the world's top memory producer. Then Intel Corp (Nasdaq:INTC - news) might be interested in tieing up with Hyundai Electronics for supplies of memory chips,'' said Rhee of HSBC Securities. Korean rival Samsung Electronics is currently the world's largest memory chip producer. Japanese chip producers, reluctant to expand capacity in an uncertain global climate, may also want Hyundai to be their supplier, Rhee said. ($1 equals 1,228.7 won) biz.yahoo.com

To: John Graybill who wrote (43870)	3/16/1999 10:54:00 AM
From: A. A. LaFountain III	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 53903

Re: Great info or total BS What's scary about this process is when opinion is stated as fact. For example, a major investment bank published a Strong Buy on MU on 1/15/99 at a price of $69 with a $90 target and stated on the front page in the company "blurb" (the short description) the following: "Micron Technology is the largest supplier of DRAM memories [sic] in the world with 15-17% market share after the acquisition of Texas Instrument' DRAM assets." This, of course, was palpable nonsense that would not have stood up to the most cursory investigation, but was stated as fact. Under New York Stock Exchange rule 472, "No member or member organization shall utilize any communication which contains (i) any untrue statement or omission of a material fact or is otherwise false or misleading..." The workarounds here are fairly simple: opinion is labeled as such (e.g., "We believe..." or "In our opinion...") and facts are sourced (either with a source note to a table or in the text [e.g., "According to market research firm IDC, Micron's share of the DRAM market in 1998 was..."]). I think it's a minor miracle that the plantiffs' bar hasn't jumped all over this situation (i.e., a $20 point loss in two months when the fundamental facts are misrepresented). But my point is that this thread would probably benefit from a similar set of distinctions - facts presented as such (and documented or sourced) and opinions clearly labeled. We all are denied enlightenment when the two are allowed to masquerade as each other. - Tad LaFountain