Aug 16 2007
Rohm and Haas Company and SKC, Incorporated, have announced the formation of a joint venture that will develop, manufacture and market advanced optical and functional films used in the flat panel display industry. The joint venture combines the strength of Rohm and Haas and SKC to provide a broad portfolio of unique films used in today’s most advanced liquid crystal and plasma displays.
As part of the new joint venture arrangement, SKC will spin-off its Display Technologies business into a separate legal entity. Rohm and Haas will invest to become a 51 percent owner in the new company. Closing of this transaction is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2007 pending approval by regulatory authorities.
“Today’s announcement is the next major step in building our Flat Panel Display Technologies business,” said Dr. Yi Hyon Paik, vice president and business group director, Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials. “Our current Flat Panel Display business, which includes process chemicals and optical display films recently acquired from Eastman Kodak’s Light Management Films unit, features a deep product pipeline, solid R&D, and a broad intellectual property portfolio. SKC brings a strong and respected presence in the Asia flat panel markets, as well as outstanding manufacturing infrastructure, applications engineering, and customer intimacy,” Paik said.
“We’re pleased to be entering into an exciting, new future with SKC and Rohm and Haas,” said Mr. Jang Suk Park, president, SKC, Incorporated. “This joint venture brings the strength of two great companies under one roof. Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials has an excellent reputation for materials innovation and research excellence. Their product pipeline is impressive. SKC also brings a broad line-up of film technologies to the new JV, as well as established manufacturing capability and customer relationships throughout Asia,” Park said. “We are looking forward to working with Rohm and Haas over the coming months to launch and introduce this new joint venture to the flat panel industry.”
Rohm and Haas will have a controlling interest in the JV, which will be headquartered in Korea. Sales are projected to be approximately $300 million (U.S.) in the joint venture’s first year of operation. Rohm and Haas’s investment in the JV is expected to be approximately $190 million. When combined with the acquisition of Eastman Kodak Company’s Light Management Films business earlier this year, Rohm and Haas will have invested approximately $230 million to build a major new business unit—Flat Panel Display Technologies—within its Electronic Materials group. Overall sales of the new business unit are expected to be approximately $350 million in 2008.
Dr. Pierre Brondeau, Rohm and Haas executive vice president and business group executive, Electronic Materials and Specialty Materials, said the JV is an important addition to the company’s growing Electronic Materials franchise.
“We have traditionally performed exceedingly well in industries and markets that place a high value on innovation. That’s what we do best, and it’s what the flat panel industry will continue to need in the face of increasing demand for displays that are brighter, more vibrant, larger, and more energy efficient. The new joint venture combines two great companies, each complementing the other,” Brondeau added. “It represents another critical element in aggressively expanding Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials and our presence in the high growth flat panel industry.”
Products developed, manufactured and marketed by the joint venture will include a suite of specialty display films for liquid crystal (LCD) and plasma displays. The JV also will include dispersions of pigments, key ingredients used to manufacture LCD color filter plates. In addition to these films and materials, Rohm and Haas’s Flat Panel Display Technologies business develops and manufactures a variety of products for the display industry, including TFT photoresists and color filter chrome patterning.