(Adds analysts comments, KEB comment)

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SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- Creditors of Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (000660.SE) have successfully raised KRW923.2 billion ($813.5 million) through a block sale of a 6.67% stake in the chip maker at the top end of an indicative price range, helping its shares outperform the main index.

Eight Hynix creditors Monday sold 39.28 million shares at KRW23,500 a share, or the top end of a KRW22,800-KRW23,500 range, to domestic and overseas institutional investors, main creditor Korea Exchange Bank said in a statement Tuesday.

"The successful share sale and positive business outlook will help speed up the merger & acquisition process to find a new owner for Hynix," a spokesman for KEB said.

Strong demand pushed up the stocks by 1.3% to KRW23,800 as of 0202 GMT, outpacing the broader Kospi, which was flat.

"Hynix's stock underperformed its global peers due to a possible overhang issue ahead of its creditors' block sale but the overhang concern was erased after creditors sold their stake at a price without discount amid an upbeat dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chip industry outlook this year," Ben Bahn at Daishin Securities said. He expects Hynix to rise to his target of KRW34,000 in the short term.

Hanwha Securities' Suh Dong-won said Hynix will likely post a "record high" operating profit of KRW755 billion in the first quarter, a 26.5% on-quarter rise, due to continued higher demand for personal computers and DRAM chips.

A Hynix spokeswoman declined to comment on the block sale Tuesday.

The block sale, the first of two expected share placements, will enable Hynix creditors to recoup funds invested in the chip maker in a series of bailouts since 2001, aimed at building up the company and keeping it in South Korean hands.

In the process, Hynix grew past rivals and is now the world's second-largest maker of DRAM chips by sales after Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE), also based in South Korea.

The share sale follows two failed attempts by creditors to unload part of their 28% stake in Hynix. Creditors became shareholders of Hynix after several debt-for-equity swaps.

KEB said in late February that Hynix's creditors agreed to sell a 13% stake this year through a block sale, with 8% to be sold in the first half of the year and the remaining 5% in the second half.

Hynix creditors are subject to a 90-day lock up after Monday's share sale, during which they can't offload their remaining 21.3% stake.

Nomura Securities, Credit Suisse and Woori Investment & Securities led the share sale, joined by NH Investment & Securities, Daewoo Securities and Shinhan Investment Corp.

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