Beyond 3G

Business

Chindia

Announcement

Event

Home » Business

Shareholders OK Merger of Pantech with its Affiliate

Submitted by TKorea on 2009/11/29 – 12:30 amNo Comment

Shareholders of Pantech approved Saturday the mobile phone maker’s merger with its affiliate Pantech&Curitel Communications to sharpen its competitive edge in the global market.

The two companies announced the merger plan last month, aiming to launch the new entity on Dec. 30.

The merged company will aim to post 5 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) in sales and to sell 25 million units of mobile phones in 2013, Patech officials said.

Pantech and Pantech&Curitel Communications have been under a debt rescheduling program since they were bailed out by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) with 1.28 trillion won in 2007. The program is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2011.

In mid August, the two firms’ creditors agreed to convert debts worth 220 billion won into equity.

KDB, the main creditor of the local handset makers, holds 19.52 percent stake in Pantech and 11.32 percent interest in Pantech&Curitel.

Founded in 1991 as a start-up manufacturer of pagers, Pantech was once hailed as a model for venture businesses. But it began to face difficulties in 2006 after expanding on borrowed funds and acquiring a mobile phone-making unit from SK Telecom, the country’s top wireless company.

Pantech, together with Pantech&Curitel, is South Korea’s third-largest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

YonhapNewsAgency

Related posts:

  1. Pantech Unveils First Android-based Smartphone in Korea Pantech, South Korea’s No. 3 handset maker, unveiled Wednesday its first Android-based smartphone, betting on Google’s mobile operating system to...

Leave a comment!

Do you have a comment on this article or an alternative perspective to contribute that will be of interest to other readers? Use this feature to express your opinion and it will appear next to the article. All visitors comments will be moderated and no messages that are not signed and/or have inflammatory, abusive, derogatory language or any language deemed unfit for publication by the editor will be displayed.

TelecomsKorea reserves the right to publish or reject any comment. Please read our Moderation Policy.