Roman Haas's acquisition of Gracel, expanding OLED material business

Roman Haas announced the formal acquisition of GracEL Display, Inc., an organic light emitting diode (OLED) materials R & D and manufacturing. Through this transaction worth about $40 million, Roman Haas won a majority stake in South Korea's Gracel company.

The acquisition of Gracel and its portfolio of organic light emitting diode (OLED) materials has expanded Roman Haas's growing display technology business. Roman Haas shows part of the chemical sector can produce TFT (thin film transistor) photoresist and related materials; access to Kodak in June 2007 (Eastman Kodak) photographic film business, Roman Haas further with the optical display film production capacity. Roman Haas also opened a new joint venture in December 2007 - SKC Haas Display Films to develop and produce advanced films and filters for LCD and plasma displays. Including the acquisition of Gracel, Roman Haas has invested $270 million over the past 12 months to build its display technology division.

"We welcome Gracel and OLED material channel to join Roman Haas," Dr. Roman Haas electronic materials division vice president and director of the Yi Hyon Paik said, "Grace has a good record of innovation and a solid customer base. In fact, its OLED material is now being used by the display company. The future of this technology is very bright, and we expect to be able to bring a new generation of emerging market OLED materials. "

Advanced OLED technology provides many performance improvements to improve the brightness, clarity and resolution of flat panel displays. Compared with the traditional OLED display technology consumes only a small part of the energy (portable device is an important consideration), can provide high brightness and contrast to obtain clear image quality, design and the broader perspective and slim. OLED technology has recently entered a formal, is gradually being commercialized by increasing practical applications. In the next 10 years, OLED is expected to achieve significant growth in the use of the display.

Roman Haas, executive vice president, director of the division Pierre Dr. Brondeau said OLED is an important complement to the company's display materials business. "As part of our vision for 2010, Roman Haas has accelerated its investment in growth platforms, including our patent for electronic materials," he said. In the past 12 months, we have focused on the establishment of a display technology division, "said Brondeau. "OLED is a very useful addition to the steady growth of our products, which is a powerful technology that has an important role in guiding the development of a new generation of ultra thin and ultra clean displays. "

Source: International Electronic Business