Samsung to Buy 10 Per Cent Stake in Local Rival Pantech
- Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
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[img_assist|nid=25671|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=99|height=183]Samsung is buying a 10 per cent stake in its local rival Pantech, South Koreas third largest handset maker.
The deal, reported by the Yonhap news agency, has been valued at around 53 billion won (US$47.6m) for the struggling manufacturer, which was put into a debt rescheduling programme in 2007. Samsung is now Pantech’s third largest investor after Qualcomm and the state-run Korea Development Bank. 
Samsung and Pantech already have strong ties in semiconductors and displays – Pantech buys parts from the tech giant – demonstrating the amount of bilateral cooperation in some areas of the smartphone business. Pantech currently sits behind LG as a mid-tier Android manufacturer and trades in the US, Japan, China and some areas of the EU.
