Novaled AG, a Dresden, Germany-based provider in OLED technologies and materials, is to be acquired by Cheil Industries and Samsung Electronics.
Cheil Industries, an electronic materials company in the display industry, will acquire a 50% stake in the company while Samsung Electronics will acquire approximately 40%. The remaining stake of approximately 10% in Novaled is held by Samsung Venture Investment which invested in the company (read here) in 2011 and will maintain its current shareholding.
The transaction, which is subject to approval from competition and other relevant authorities, values Novaled at €260m including a €30m contingent payment, which is conditional to reaching certain undisclosed milestones. Sellers include eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners AG, Zweite TechnoStart Ventures Fonds GmbH & Co. KG, Omnes Capital, TechFund Europe Management S.A.S., Innovation Capital S.A.S., KfW, Dresden Fonds GmbH and TUDAG TU Dresden AG, amongst others.
Founded in 2001 by Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth through a spin-off of the Dresden University of Technology and the Fraunhofer Institute of Dresden, Novaled AG provides OLED (organic light-emitting diodes) display and lighting manufacturers with customized solutions to optimize the performance, power efficiency, stability and lifetime of their products.
The company, which has sales offices in Korea and Japan, generated revenues of €26m in 2012.
Cheil Industries plans to grow Novaled’s existing R&D activities and concentrate a main part of its OLED R&D strategy in Dresden.
FinSMEs
12/08/2013