Corning To Buy Full Ownership Of SCP; Plans Addl $2 Bln Buyback - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Corning Inc. (GLW) announced that it is entering into a series of strategic and financial agreements with Samsung Display Co., Ltd., to strengthen product and technology collaborations between the two companies. Corning expects the transactions to close in the first quarter of 2014.

Corning will obtain full ownership of Samsung Corning Precision Materials Co., Ltd., an unconsolidated equity venture with Samsung Display that manufactures LCD glass in Korea. Samsung Display currently owns 43 percent of SCP.

After redemption of their interest in SCP, Samsung Display's investment in new convertible preferred shares of Corning with an aggregate face amount of $1.9 billion. Samsung Display's combined investment in Corning would result in approximately 7.4 percent ownership on an as-converted basis.

Corning also announced preliminary third-quarter 2013 results, with core earnings per share improving 18 percent to $0.33 and core sales rising 10 percent to $2.1 billion. GAAP earnings per share declined to $0.28 from $0.36 a year ago.

At the same time, the company expects fourth-quarter results to be lower sequentially, mainly driven by normal seasonality in its Telecommunications, Life Sciences, and Environmental Technologies segments.

In addition, Corning's board authorized an additional $2 billion of share repurchases through Dec. 31, 2015, dependent upon the transaction closing.

The company's stock gained 21 percent to $18.55 in the extended hours trading.