Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/08/14/elpida_offered_billion_yen_loan/

Sugar daddies dangle fat wad to woo chip biz Elpida from Micron

Ditch the Yanks, treat yourself with this $380m cheque

By Brid-Aine Parnell

Posted in On-Prem, 14th August 2012 13:38 GMT

A group of bondholders are offering ailing chip maker Elpida a loan of ¥30bn ($383m) to restructure instead of letting Micron take over.

The loan deal is going to be presented in bankruptcy court in Tokyo today, a source whispered to Reuters.

The bondholders don't like the plan for Micron to snap up the company for ¥200bn (£1.6bn) claiming that the sale price undervalues Elpida and its assets, so they've been trying to dig it out of trouble themselves.

Elpida filed for bankruptcy back in February and has been looking for a white knight ever since. US-based Micron has offered to pay ¥60bn (£486m) upfront and give creditors ¥140bn (£1.13bn) in instalments until 2019.

But the bondholders, a group of Japanese and international investment funds, claim that there are so many conditions attached to the instalments, they might never get paid.

The group reckons Elpida can get back on track on with its help and is in talks with another as yet unknown financial sponsor that would be willing to inject some capital. ®