Samsung is trying to meet the growing need for OLED displays with the acquisition of Novaled for 260 million euros. Cheil Industries today signed a binding agreement to acquire a majority stake of approximately 50% in Novaled. Samsung Electronics will acquire approximately 40%, the remaining stake of approximately 10% in Novaled is currently held by Samsung Venture Investment which will maintain its current shareholding. The transaction values Novaled at a total enterprise value of €260m including a €30m contingent payment, which is conditional to reaching certain milestones.

Cheil Industries? CEO Jong-Woo Park commented: "Leadership in future display market will be determined by technological capacity", and "this acquisition is expected to generate significant synergy in new-generation OLED materials R&D and will play a critical role in enhancing Cheil Industries? market position as a global leader in electronic materials".

"The transaction with Cheil Industries and Samsung Electronics completes a partnership that started in 2011 with Samsung Venture Investment becoming a strategic investor in Novaled. At the end, the dual track process with a parallel preparation of a listing on NASDAQ led not only to the best solution for Novaled but also to one of the most successful venture capital investments in Germany", remarks Paul-Josef Patt, CEO of eCAPITAL and lead investor since the beginning of 2009.

As part of the transaction, Cheil Industries and Samsung Electronics will also acquire the shares of founding partners of Novaled.

Novaled AG is specializing in high efficiency, long-lifetime OLED structures. Through the combination of organic conductivity doping technology, proprietary materials and OLED stack development expertise, Novaled offers OLED display and lighting manufacturers customized solutions to optimize the performance, power efficiency, stability and lifetime of their products while decreasing their manufacturing complexity and cost.