Simpson Thacher represented the initial purchasers, led by Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Woori Securities, in a US$1.49 billion global offering of Hynix Semiconductor Inc.’s common stock, which comprised an international offering by Hynix Semiconductor and its selling shareholders of global depositary shares (“GDSs”) under Rule 144A and Regulations S and a domestic sale by selling shareholders of common stock.
Hynix Semiconductor issued and sold 10,811,318 shares of common stock in the form of GDSs for gross proceeds of US$300 million. Concurrently, the selling shareholders sold 16,142,730 shares of common stock in the form of GDSs for gross proceeds of US$448 million and 26,954,048 shares of common stock for gross proceeds of $748 million in an off-hour block trade on the Korea Exchange.
Hynix Semiconductor is one of the world’s largest makers of memory semiconductor products. Simpson Thacher had previously represented the underwriters in a global bond offering by Hynix Semiconductor in July 2005, and a global offering of GDSs by Hynix Semiconductor's selling shareholders in October 2005. The GDSs are listed for trading on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. Its common shares are listed for trading on the Korea Exchange.
The Simpson Thacher team involved in this matter included Youngjin Sohn, Kristina Kang, Changsu Oh and Jae-Hak Kim in the Hong Kong Office, and Hallie Grainer and Shari Silverman (tax), Jeanne Annarumma (ERISA) and Mark Lab (blue sky) in the New York Office.