Prime View acquires E Ink Corporation

For $215 million

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2 June 2009 10:36 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Prime View International, apparently the world's highest volume supplier of ePaper display modules, has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire E Ink Corporation, the electronic paper display company for approximately $215 million.

The deal is described as the "capstone" in a transformation at PVI over the past 4 years 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, a market that's set to grow:

"The market for electronic book devices such as the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle is forecasted to grow from 1.1 million units in 2008 to 20 million units in 2012, a cumulative annual growth rate of 105% over the four-year period", said iSuppli analyst Vinita Jakhanwal.

The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.