NEW YORK-Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s Corp. are considering whether to downgrade about $400 million of Hyundai Semiconductor America Inc. debt because of uncertainties generated by the South Korean government’s plan to merge the semiconductor operations of its parent and another company.
Headquartered in Eugene, Ore., Hyundai Semiconductor America is a special-purpose vehicle established to operate a new $1.4 billion semiconductor fabrication plant. Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd., a major player in South Korea’s semiconductor and electronics industries, owns 84 percent of the American venture. The rest is owned by other members of the Hyundai chaebol.
As part of a federal-government initiative to shore up the finances of the nation’s chaebols, Hyundai Electronics and LG Semicon Co. Ltd. announced merger plans for their semiconductor businesses earlier this month.
