On June 20th 2007, hynix Semiconductor Inc. (“hynix”), under the leadership of CEO Jong Kap Kim, priced a US$500 million 144A / Reg S senior unsecured fixed rate 10-year bond offering (the “Offering”). The bonds, which are callable after 5 years, have been rated ‘Ba2’ by Moody’s, ‘BB-‘ by S&P and ‘BB’ by Fitch. The bonds priced at 10 year US Treasuries +276 bps, equating to a yield to maturity of 7.875% and carry a semi-annual coupon of 7.875%. The bonds will be listed on the Singapore Exchange. Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Korea Development Bank and Merrill Lynch acted as Joint Bookrunners and Joint Lead Managers for the Offering.
hynix expects to use the net proceeds from the Offering principally for redemption of hynix’s outstanding US$500 million in aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2012.
The Offering is the first non-investment grade bond issuance by a Korean company since January 2006. Key highlights of this transaction is as follows:
• Significant improvement in pricing for hynix compared to its inaugural bond offering in 2005;
• Rare 10-year maturity high yield bond deal from the global semiconductor sector;
• Extension of the company’s maturity profile by issuing 10-year notes in comparison to its inaugural 7-year bond offering in 2005; and
• Successful achievement of ratings upgrade from Moody’s to ‘Ba2’ from ‘B1’ and from S&P to ‘BB-‘ from ‘B+’.
hynix is a leading memory semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and sells advanced memory semiconductor products. hynix is one of the largest memory semiconductor companies in terms of revenue, addressing approximately 79.9% of the global memory market in the first quarter of 2007, including DRAM and NAND flash. hynix is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of DRAM, the most widely used memory chip in the electronics industry, and is ranked number two globally based on DRAM revenues with a market share of 22.2%. In addition, hynix is the third largest provider of NAND flash memory in terms of revenue, with a worldwide market share of 14.3% in the first quarter of 2007. For fiscal year 2006, hynix recorded total revenue of KRW7,732 billion, EBITDA of KRW3,618 billion and net income of KRW2,055 billion.
This press release is not an offer for sale of the securities of hynix Semiconductor Inc. in the United States. The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. hynix Semiconductor Inc. does not intend to register any portion of the offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States.
