South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc. plans to raise $500 million by issuing dollar-denominated bonds in October to gird itself for a protracted industry slowdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the investment banking industry on August 31, the world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker has begun the sale process, having chosen unidentified foreign securities companies as lead managers for the bond issue.
SK Hynix may increase the size of dollar bonds if demand significantly exceeds supply during the bookbuilding, sources said. The company is issuing the bonds to secure operating funds needed for next year.
The overseas dollar bond issue comes as SK Hynix and other rivals such as Samsung Electronics are
bracing for worsening business conditions amid falling chip prices following the resurgence of the coronavirus.
SK Hynix posted an operating profit of 1.95 trillion won ($1.63 billion) for the quarter ended June, its highest quarterly earnings since the fourth quarter of 2018. Revenue totaled 8.61 trillion won, up 33.4% year on year. For the first six months, its operating profit rose 37% on the year to 2.75 trillion won.
Recently, a number of Korean companies, including KT Corp., Doosan Infracore, GS Caltex and Mirae Asset Daewoo,
have been successful in issuing foreign currency bonds, reflecting firm appetite among overseas investors for Korean debt.
Write to Jin-sung Kim at
jskim1028@hankyung.com