LCD maker is coy about funds plan

LG Philips LCD Co., the largest thin film transistor-liquid crystal display maker in the world, is apparently looking for new funding, but the firm was unwilling to discuss just what its intentions were. Company officials met with representatives of investment bankers, including JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney in Seoul on Thursday. Industry observers speculated that LG Philips is planning a listing on the New York Stock Exchange; the company declined any comment. “What we can say is at this moment, nothing has been decided yet,” a company official told the JoongAng Daily yesterday, although he implicitly confirmed that the meeting had taken place. Display manufacturing is capital intensive; another official at the firm said that the display maker needed more funding to maintain its position in the market. Founded in 1999, the firm is a 50-50 joint venture between LG Electronics Inc. and Royal Philips Electronics NV, a Dutch firm. In the fourth quarter, LG Philips had a 20-percent share of the LCD-TFT display market, best in the industry. The company estimated its revenues for fiscal year 2002 at 3.5 trillion won ($2.9 billion), with operating profits of 274 billion won. by Kim Hyo-jin