Elpida draws joint bid from US, China funds

U.S-based TPG Capital and China's Hony Capital are reportedly jointly bidding for Elpida Memory, becoming the latest potential buyers linked to the bankrupt chipmaker.

The two private equity firms had bid in the first round of the auction for the Japanese Dymanic Random-Access Memory (DRAM) chipmaker, a person familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal Asia in a report yesterday. They are expected to submit a bid in the second round, which is expected to close on Apr. 27, the person said.

If successful, both TPG and Hony Capital expect to sell Elpida products to the growing Chinese market, the person with knowledge of the matter added.

Elpida had filed for bankruptcy in February after losing money for five quarters and was unable to sustain its debts of 448 billion yen (US$5.5 billion). It had also been delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in late March.

The company had reportedly been in final stages of merger talks with U.S.-based Micron Technology and Taiwanese chip maker Nanya Technology, to gain market share in the global semiconductor memory market last year. Nanya however, denied its participation in the reported deal.