Watchdog OKs SK Telecom's Hynix purchase

SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's antitrust watchdog said Tuesday it has approved SK Telecom Co.'s bid to take over Hynix Semiconductor Inc., the world's second-largest memory chipmaker. The regulatory approval is expected to accelerate what will be the biggest acquisition by South Korea's leading mobile operator and to end years of efforts by creditors of Hynix to unload their stake in the chipmaker. "We concluded that SK Telecom's Hynix acquisition does not limit market competition," the Fair Trade Commission said in a statement. The watchdog reviewed whether the integration of the telecommunications and telecom equipment-making businesses of SK Telecom with Hynix's semiconductor manufacturing would stifle market competition. Even though the two companies are both major players in mobile and chip sectors, their technologies, supply channels and clients are different, the commission said. SK Telecom controls 54.5 percent of South Korea's wireless market and Hynix supplies around 20 percent of the global dynamic random access memory (DRAM) market. Last month, SK Telecom agreed to buy a 21.05 percent stake in Hynix for 3.43 trillion won (US$3.06 billion) from creditors led by the Korea Exchange Bank. The deal is expected to be closed by mid-January. The mobile giant has been seeking to jump into the memory chip sector and expand its presence in the global landscape, as growth in the domestic mobile market stagnates. The deal, which will pit SK Telecom against Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top memory chipmaker, also comes as a prosecution investigation widens into the SK Group chairman over suspected embezzlement. (END)