Elpida's creditors demand information disclosure

Elpida's ten major creditors have called for the disclosure of key information on its rehabilitation, such as how it chose Micron as its sponsor.

The reason for demanding the disclosure was because the creditors expect to be asked to give up on large loan claims but do not know how to decide whether to accept the debt waiver request, sources told The Japan Times in a Monday report.

The demand had been made through a lien holders' committee they formed, and the creditors also asked the Tokyo District Court to order Elpida's administrator to release the information, the sources noted. Under the country's corporate rehabilitation law, the committee has the right to express its opinion to the administrator and found it necessary to have access to as much information as possible to bail the chipmaker out.

The committee also noted that no information has been made available to the creditors to evaluate its collateral value which affected the size of Elpida's debt repayment. If the company continues to conceal information, the situation will "trigger a conflict between the creditors and Elpida and result in a delay in the rehabilitation process," the committee said.

After the Japanese chipmaker filed for bankruptcy in February, it chose U.S. semiconductor maker Micron as its rehabilitation sponsor in July. It also owed 420 billion yen (US$5.37 billion) in debt to its creditors and has proposed that 140 billion yen (US$1.79 billion) be repaid through installments over seven years.