This file photo, provided by SK hynix Inc. on Feb. 1, 2021, shows the company’s new chip factory, the M16, in Icheon, 52 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
SEOUL, July 10 (Korea Bizwire) — SK hynix Inc. said Monday it was mulling selling a water processing facility to SK reit Co. to secure funds for future investment and enhance financial soundness.
The world’s second-largest memory chip maker said the potential sale of the “non-core asset” to the real estate investment trust company, another subsidiary of SK Group, is part of its efforts to secure financing at a time when global chipmakers have raced to increase manufacturing capacity.
SK reit filed an application with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday for a potential takeover of the facility, located in Icheon, some 60 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The two companies plan to get the government’s greenlight and close the deal, worth an estimated 1 trillion won (US$765 million), by the end of the year.
Once the deal is done, SK hynix will lease the facility from SK reit, the chipmaker said.
“It became crucial for a company to slim down amid growing economic uncertainties and run financial soundness,” Kim Woo-hyun, chief financial officer at SK hynix, said.
“We will continue to review ways for asset-light to improve asset efficiency,” he said.
(Yonhap)
