U.S. fund Blackrock ups stake in SK Hynix to more than 5%

2018.05.15 13:24:44 | 2018.05.15 15:37:03

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The world¡¯s largest fund operator Blackrock Inc. has acquired a combined 5.08 percent stake in SK Hynix Inc., becoming the third largest shareholder of the South Korean chipmaker.

SK Hynix announced in a regulatory filing on Monday that Blackrock and its 14 affiliates bought a 4.99 percent stake in SK Hynix on May 3 and additional 0.09 percent on May 9 to up their stake holding to 5.08 percent or 37,011,690 shares. The holdings were worth 3.2 trillion won ($3 billion) based on the stock¡¯s Friday closing price of 86,100 won.

Shares of SK Hynix fell 0.94 percent to close Tuesday at 84,600 won.

Under the Korean law, any purchase of 5 percent or more in a listed company in Korea is subject to disclosure, including the purpose of the acquisition and contract terms, within five days after the acquisition.

The U.S. asset manager is now the third largest shareholder of SK Hynix in which SK Telecom, the telecommunications unit of SK Group, holds a 20.07 percent stake as the largest shareholder and the state-run National Pension Service (NPS) owns a 10 percent stake as the second largest shareholder.

The New York-based fund with $6 trillion assets under its management said that the purchase was for simple investment purposes, and it will ¡°not take any action to influence the management of SK Hynix.¡±

Blackrock upped its stake in SK Hynix to more than 5 percent in 2016 and later reduced the holdings to 3.9 percent. The fund also announced last week that it acquired a 5.04 percent stake in LG Electronics Inc.

By Chun Kyung-woon and Choi Mira

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