Doosan Chosen as Preferred Bidder for SK Siltron, Chey's Stake Excluded

[Korea Financial Times, Gwak Horyung] SK Inc. announced on Dec. 17 that it has selected Doosan Corporation as the preferred bidder for the sale of its stake in SK Siltron.

SK Siltron is a semiconductor wafer manufacturer that SK acquired from LG in 2017. SK Inc. directly holds a 51 percent stake in SK Siltron. The remaining 49 percent is held by a special purpose vehicle (SPC) comprised of securities firms. To ease the financial burden of the acquisition, SK entered into a total return swap agreement—a form of equity-backed financing—with the securities firms. Of the SPC's stake, 29.4 percent is reportedly owned by SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, with the remaining 19.6 percent belonging to SK Inc.

The sale is understood to cover the 70.6 percent stake held by SK Inc., excluding Chairman Chey's shares. SK Inc. stated that "specific details will be determined through negotiations with the preferred bidder."

SK Inc. has been pursuing the sale of SK Siltron since early this year as part of its rebalancing efforts. At the time, SK's estimated corporate value for SK Siltron was cited to be in the range of KRW 4 trillion to KRW 5 trillion.

Doosan is pursuing the acquisition of SK Siltron to enter the semiconductor materials business. Doosan has been strengthening its semiconductor operations by acquiring Engion and Doosan Tesna, both semiconductor back-end equipment and testing companies.

Gwak Horyung (horr@fntimes.com)