LG Display Shares Climb After Securing Loan From Parent

By Kwanwoo Jun

LG Display Co.'s shares climbed Tuesday, a day after securing a $770 million loan from its parent to bolster its financing and enhance the competitiveness of its organic light-emitting diode business.

Shares of the South Korean flat-screen maker rose as much as 13% to 16,880 won in early afternoon trade, staying on course for the sharpest daily percentage gain in two years and seven months and outperforming the benchmark Kospi's 0.6% rise.

The stock's rally came after LG Display said after Monday's market close that it decided to borrow KRW1 trillion ($770.3 million) from home-appliance giant LG Electronics Inc., which has a 31.91% controlling stake in the display-panel maker.

The three-year loan, which allows LG Display a two-year grace period before its instalment repayments, will help strengthen its OLED business and bolster its working capital, the company said in a regulatory filing late Monday.

LG Display has restructured its business to focus more on profitable OLED products while streamlining its loss-making liquid crystal display business.

The South Korean company has been in the red since the second quarter of 2022 due to sluggish panel demand.

Some market analysts expect LG Display could turn profitable in the second quarter of 2023 on a recovery in demand for smartphones and premium TVs.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2023 01:27 ET (05:27 GMT)

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