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Monday, September 17, 2012

Elpida's bondholders open new front in fight over Micron deal, (NASDAQ: MU)

Frustrated by Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc's plan to sell itself out of bankruptcy in Tokyo for a perceived pittance, the company's U.S. bondholders are bringing the fight back home, turning to a Delaware court in hopes of wresting control of the case.Holders of some of Elpida's $5.6 billion in bonds will argue at a hearing on Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., that Elpida's plan to sell itself to U.S. rival Micron Technology Inc for about $2.5 billion drastically undervalues the company.Elpida in March had filed for so-called Chapter 15 protection in the Delaware court, a common move for companies restructuring outside of the United States. Chapter 15 allows U.S. courts to recognize a foreign bankruptcy as the main proceeding and block creditors from seizing the company's American assets.But in court papers filed ahead of Monday's hearing, Elpida's bondholders made the unusual demand that Judge Christopher Sontchi take steps to protect their interests in Elpida's U.S. assets and declare that bondholders have the right to force Elpida's American subsidiary into bankruptcy in the United States.

Micron Technology, Inc. is a global manufacturer and marketer of semiconductor devices, principally Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), NAND Flash and NOR Flash memory, as well as other memory technologies, packaging solutions and semiconductor systems for use in computing, consumer, networking, automotive, industrial and mobile products. Shares of MU remained unchanged at $6.70. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $3.97 and as high as $9.16. On average, 27602900 shares of MU exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.



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