SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile operator, said Friday that it bought a 7.47 percent stake in Hynix Semiconductor Inc. for 1.08 trillion won ($949.32 million), a move that followed the carrier’s contract to buy the chipmaker from its creditors.

SK Telecom bought 44.25 million existing shares of Hynix at a price of 24,500 won each in the after-hours trading session on Thursday, it said in a regulatory filing.

On Monday, SK Telecom agreed with eight creditors of Hynix led by Korea Exchange Bank to pay 3.43 trillion won ($3.06 billion) for a 21.05 percent stake in the chipmaker, including half of their 15 percent stake and 101.85 million new shares.

The mobile carrier was the sole company to submit a bid for Hynix and was selected as a preferred bidder.

The acquisition of the world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker will diversify business portfolios and help it gain ground in overseas markets, SK Telecom said.

The two parties expect to close the deal by the end of the first quarter in 2012.

Creditors made several failed attempts to unload their stake in Hynix and to find an owner for the chipmaker in past years.

They became Hynix’s largest shareholders in a debt-for-equity swap deal after injecting US$4.6 billion to rescue Hynix in 2001 and 2002. 

(Yonhap News)