Samsung will buy German OLED provider Novaled for about $279 million

UPDATE: Samsung has confirmed it will buy a 90 percent stake in Germany’s Novaled for KRW311 billion ($279 million), Reuters reports.

Samsung Cheil Industries will acquire a 50.1 percent stake, while Samsung Electronics will own a 40 percent stake, Cheil said in a statement. Given that Samsung Ventures Investment Corporation already owns a 9.9 percent stake in Novaled, this means the German company will be wholly owned by the Korean firm.

Previously we reported that Samsung is close to buying Germany’s Novaled, a company specializing in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technologies for lighting up smartphone and television screens, for more than $200 million, according to Bloomberg News.

Lee Tae-Hun, the senior PR manager of Samsung Cheil Industries, told TNW that the company is reviewing the possibility of buying Novaled, but there has been no final decision. He declined to elaborate further.

The report cites two people familiar with the transaction as saying that an agreement could be reached as soon as this week. Gerd Guenther, the chief marketing officer for Novaled, also reportedly said that negotiations are ongoing.

In September 2011, Novaled had received an equity investment of an undisclosed amount from Samsung Ventures Investment Corporation. It filed in 2012 for an initial public offering of up to $200 million in the US, but that has yet to go through.

Samsung’s reported acquisition of Novaled comes amid a series of OLED patent feuds. In the latter half of 2012, LG served Samsung with a patent suit over OLED technology in the latter half of 2012, while Samsung made moves to annul seven LG patents.

These actions were reversed earlier this year when Samsung dropped its request and LG did the same with its injunction on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as part of a pact to iron out the issues away from the court room. However, in March, the reconciliation seemed to be over after LG instructed its rival to pay for its use of the technology, claiming Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display violated its patents.

In May this year, Samsung invested $25 million to open its first US-based patent business, said to be focused on OLED and LCD patents. The Korean company’s reported move to acquire Novaled will therefore be another strategic move to gather more OLED technologies and patents under its belt.

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