JDI Postpones JOLED Acquisition, Seeks More Funding
Japan Display (JDI) will postpone the final agreement to acquire Panasonic and Sony's OLED joint venture JOLED, as the company is considering a deeper restructuring than it first announced, including seeking outside financial help.
JDI initially planned to acquire JOLED to better compete with Korean rivals and emerging Chinese players. The final agreement would be signed this month, but it has been puched back until next year.
According to Nikkei business daily, Japan Display is seeking outside financial help in order to catch up with other players in the OLED business, in which JDI has entered late. The result was to lose its OLED agreemetn with Apple.
Japan Display is reaching out to investment funds and is looking at capital and business tie-ups, the newspaper said. The company will also appoint a new management team at its annual shareholders meeting later this month, and announce a new medium-term business plan by August.
In addition to the outside investors, the company is also seeking further help from the Innovation Network Corp of Japan (INCJ), a government-led technology venture which already agreed to provide up to 75 billion yen ($685 million) to help the company.
The company plans to start mass manufacturing OLEDs next year.