Hynix launches capital markets re-capitalization

A research blackout was imposed at midnight on Tuesday, with formal roadshows for an $800 million GDR and $350 million high yield bond scheduled to begin in Korea on Monday May 21, for pricing the week beginning June 11. Salomon Smith Barney is lead manager of what represents the most ambitious re-capitalization Asia's public markets have seen to date and the largest corporate restructuring in Korean history.

Since the beginning of the Asian financial crisis, Salomon has successively stamped its name as the most successful lead manager in the re-capitalization of Asia inc with highly acclaimed deals for Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) in Thailand and Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) in Singapore. Should it succeed with this new deal, which may result in a 100% re-capitalization of Hynix's equity base, it will have also provided a template for the Korean government to further its painful re-modeling of the whole Chaebol sector.