SEOUL, South Korea — In the latest bailout of a troubled South Korean computer chip giant, creditors on Monday approved a $4.08 billion debt-relief plan for Hynix Semiconductor Inc., officials said.
The plan includes a $1.58 billion debt-for-equity swap and a roll over of Hynix's $2.5 billion of debt by 2006, Hynix's main creditor Korea Exchange Bank said.
The bailout, mainly by state-controlled banks, will likely raise complaints from U.S. and other foreign competitors that Hynix and other South Korean companies have benefited from unfair government subsidies.
Boise-based Micron Technology and Infineon Technologies of Germany filed complaints this year with the U.S. Commerce Department and the European Union, respectively, accusing their South Korean competitors of unfair assistance.
South Korea denied charges that it had provided illegal subsidies to Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest computer memory chipmaker, and Hynix, the world's third-largest.
Creditors holding 86.5 percent of Hynix's $6.25 billion debt owed to financial institutions voted for the package recommended by Deutsche Bank of Germany. The approval required 75 percent of the vote.
The German bank has said that Hynix can survive on its own if the plan is adopted, but would face a new cash flow crisis as early as the first half of next year otherwise.
Hynix has been bailed out by state-controlled creditor banks several times in recent years.
Those banks took control of the company in June after a debt-for-equity swap of about $2.5 billion.
Hours ahead of the voting, Hynix said that it has signed a preliminary deal to sell its stake in display-panel maker Imagequest Co. for $37.5 million.
Imagequest, which was spun off from Hynix in August 2000, exports color display panels and liquid crystal displays.