The Welsh Development Agency has settled a long-running compensation battle with Korean manufacturer Hynix Semiconductor Wales over the ill-fated LG Semicon factory in Newport, South Wales, in the 1990s.
Described at the times as the largest-ever inward investment into the UK from the Far East, the finished plant would have represented a £2bn investment and was set to create 2,000 jobs.
The company abandoned the project following the worldwide collapse of the semiconductor market in the late 1990s and since then the WDA has been embroiled in an action aimed at recovering financial assistance given at the time.
It announced today that under an agreement with LG’s parent, Hynix, the WDA will recover all of the £36.65m it contributed to the project through a land and cash deal.
Hynix, which had already transferred 55 acres of serviced land alongside the plant to the agency valued at £6.65m, has transferred the remaining plant and buildings valued at £17m and made a payment of £13m.
A Hynix spokesman said: “The repayment of the grant and the return of the site to the public sector enabled Hynix to withdraw honourably and at no cost to the public purse.”
References: EGi News 22/03/05
