SK hynix (000660.KS), which will list American Depositary Shares (ADS) on the Nasdaq market on July 10, has added U.S. litigation risk to its registration statement. However, the company left its offering terms, including the offering price, still undetermined.
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, SK hynix revised its existing registration statement and completed the Nasdaq listing process anew. In the amendment, SK hynix added only the litigation risk to its Risk Factors section. The content concerns an antitrust class action lawsuit filed by indirect purchasers of commodity DRAM at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on June 25. The lawsuit was brought by 14 U.S. consumers and three small and mid-sized PC manufacturers against Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and Micron. The plaintiffs claimed that rising memory chip prices have led to price increases for finished information technology (IT) products such as the MacBook and iPad, directly causing financial harm to consumers.
Apart from the litigation content, there were no changes from the content of the first registration statement on June 24. Key offering terms, including the offering price, the volume of ADS to be issued, and the conversion ratio of ADS to common shares, remained blank. According to the registration statement, SK hynix plans to finalize the offering price in consultation with its underwriters, reflecting the most recent trading price and market conditions.
Earlier, SK hynix disclosed on June 24 that it plans to issue new shares worth up to 45.45 trillion won to list ADS on the Nasdaq. This amounts to approximately 2.5% of its total shares. The company plans to use the funds raised through the ADS listing for facility investments, including the first-phase plant of the Yongin semiconductor cluster in Gyeonggi Province.
The market expects SK hynix to raise $29 billion through the ADS listing. This is comparable to the $29.4 billion raised by Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco in its 2019 initial public offering (IPO).
