TOKYO (Reuters) - Micron Technology has won the right to negotiate exclusively to buy failed Japanese chip maker Elpida Memory Inc after offering more than 200 billion yen ($2.5 billion) for the company, a person familiar with the transaction said.
In the final round of bidding to buy Elpida, which closed last Friday, the chipmaker also offered to keep the company's two main factories in Japan open and to guarantee jobs for current employees for the time being, the person said.
Micron's offer was accepted by Elpida's trustees and management, although a final restructuring plan will still require the approval of a local court and Elpida's creditors.
Elpida, which filed for bankruptcy protection in February with 448 billion yen in liabilities in the largest bankruptcy ever for a Japanese manufacturer, has been looking for an investor to help it keep its business running.
Private equity firm TPG Capital LP teamed up with China's Hony Capital to place a joint bid in the final round, while South Korea's SK hynix said on the day the bidding closed that it had dropped out of the race.
The auction for Elpida, the world's No.3 maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips, has been overseen by Elpida CEO Yukio Sakamoto and lawyer Nobuaki Kobayashi, the court-appointed trustees.
The trustees and Elpida executives met on Sunday to select their preferred investor. Elpida is expected to submit its restructuring plans to a local court by August 21.
(Additional reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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