Bankrupt Eastman Kodak has signed a $525m deal with a consortium led by Intellectual Ventures and RPX to sell its digital imaging patent portfolio, paving a way for it to emerge from bankruptcy during the first half of 2013.
The consortium includes Microsoft, Apple, Google, Samsung Electronics, Research In Motion, Adobe Systems, Amazon.com, Facebook, Fujifilm, Huawei Technologies, HTCand Shutterfly.
As part of the agreement, a portion of the deal for 1,100 patents will be paid by the consortium’s 12 intellectual property licensees, with the remaining paid for by Intellectual Ventures, which is purchasing the digital imaging patent portfolio conditional on new licenses, in addition to earlier licenses.
Eastman Kodak chairman and chief executive officer Antonio Perez said that the monetisation of patents is another major milestone toward successful emergence.
"This proposed transaction enables Kodak to repay a substantial amount of our initial DIP loan, satisfy a key condition for our new financing facility, and position our Commercial Imaging business for further growth and success," Perez said.
Kodak, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2012, has several digital imaging patents including technologies that allow devices capture, process, edit and transmit images.
The firm anticipates that the patents could be worth about $2bn to $3bn.
Content from our partners
The proceeds received following the bid would be used to repay banks including Citigroup which provided a loan amount of about $950m.
