Micron likely winner in bid for Japan's Elpida-NHK

By Miyoung Kim and Chris Gallagher

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S.-based Micron Technology is the likely winner in the bidding for Elpida Memory Inc, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported on Friday, in a deal that would help the failed Japanese chipmaker sustain operations and repay creditors.

Elpida filed for bankruptcy protection in February with 448 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in liabilities - a record for a Japanese manufacturer - after being hit by a strong yen and a slide in prices of DRAM chips for personal computers.

Suitors were likely interested in the chips Elpida manufactures for smartphones and tablets, analysts have said.

In the final round of bidding that closed on Friday, U.S. chipmaker Micron offered around 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion) and pledged to keep the company's main Hiroshima plant and employees, NHK reported without citing sources.

Micron and Elpida are expected to finalize a deal as early as this month and submit a restructuring plan to the courts by August, the broadcaster said.

South Korea's SK hynix said earlier on Friday that it had dropped out of the race to buy Elpida. TPG Capital LP and China's Hony Capital had intended to place a joint bid for Elpida in the final bidding round, sources told Reuters previously.

TPG and Elpida declined to comment. Officials for Micron and Hony were not immediately available for comment on the report.

SK hynix decided to pull out as the deal would not "strategically benefit" the company, SK Group's Chairman Chey Tae-won told reporters after a board meeting.