SK Hynix CEO says no plans to give up seeking equity in Toshiba chip business

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SEOUL (Reuters) – SK Hynix Inc does not plan to abandon its aim to gain equity in Toshiba Corp’s $18 billion memory chip business, the South Korean firm’s chief executive said on Wednesday.

CEO Park Sung-wook made the remarks to reporters on the sidelines of an industry event in South Korea, a spokesman for the company said.

It was also the first time that the firm has publicly acknowledged it wants equity in the world’s No. 2 NAND chip maker. SK Hynix is part of a Japan-led consortium that was selected as a preferred bidder for the chip business last month.

But people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday that Toshiba is negotiating with rival bidders Western Digital Corp and Taiwan’s Foxconn as talks with the preferred bidder consortium have stalled.

SK Hynix’s insistence on putting up its money through convertible bonds, which could eventually give the firm equity interest, threatens to scuttle the deal for the preferred bidder group, they have said.