Prime View to Acquire E Ink

Prime View International (“PVI”) (8069.TW), a small and medium display provider and the world’s highest volume supplier of ePaper display modules, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire E Ink Corporation, the developer of electronic paper display materials and intellectual property for approximately $215 million. The deal is part of a transformation at PVI to focus on electronic paper displays. In 2005, PVI acquired the ePaper business of Philips Electronics and partnered with E Ink to provide displays for electronic books including the SONY Reader and the Amazon Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. PVI also invested heavily in dedicated driver chips and touch screens for ePaper, as well as flexible displays, which will be marketed later this year. In 2008, PVI bought a 74% stake of Hydis Technologies of Korea, quadrupling capacity for the transistor backplanes used in ePaper. The new company will expand capacity and develop improvements for ePaper display screens that are easy on the eyes, long-lasting, and highly portable. ePaper is for reading of digital documents which are less wasteful, more convenient and more up-to-date than paper documents. E Ink and PVI currently support nearly 20 eBook manufacturers worldwide. In addition to electronic books, E Ink’s Vizple imaging film is used in cellphones, signage, smartcards, memory devices, and battery indicators. PVI will finance the acquisition with an equity placement and a convertible bond offering led by Taiwanese securities firm KGI. The transaction is subject to shareholder and customary regulatory approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009. http://www.eink.com, http://www.pvi.com.tw