Emcore Corp. today announced that it has sold its 49 percent interest in GELcore LLC to the lighting operations of GE Consumer & Industrial, a division of General Electric, for $100 million in cash. The sale gives Fairfield, Conn.-based GE complete ownership of the business. In 1999, GE and Emcore, a provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber optic, satellite and solar power markets, formed GELcore, a joint venture to address the solid-state lighting market with high-brightness LED-based (HB-LED) lighting systems. GELcore's products include traffic lights, channel letters, and other signage and display products that incorporate HB-LEDs. The company is based in Cleveland. Emcore said it has accounted for its investment in GELcore using the equity method of accounting and its cumulative share of losses since GELcore's formation through June 30, 2006, total approximately $16.1 million. Emcore expects to realize a gain on the sale of GELcore in the range of $85 million to $90 million. In 2005, GELcore recorded a net loss of $0.8 million, a decrease of $3.3 million from the $2.5 million net income recorded in 2004. For the six months ended June 30, 2006, GELcore recorded a net loss of $1.3 million. Emcore and GE collaborated over the past seven years as GELcore grew into a solid-state lighting company, with Emcore contributing material science expertise and funding. "The sale of GELcore has come at an opportune time for Emcore as we enter the terrestrial solar market which represents an enormous end market for Emcore," said CEO Reuben F. Richards Jr. in a statement. "This sale provides us with one of the strongest balance sheets in our industry and positions us extremely well to advance our industry leading technology in both fiber optics and photovoltaics." In a separate announcement, GE said it is forming a strategic alliance with Nichia Corp. of Japan, a maker of GaN-based optoelectronic products, including ultraviolet, blue, green and white LEDs and blue-violet laser diodes, to advance GELcore's LED technology and the penetration of LEDs in the $12 billion lighting industry."This agreement is a true win-win outcome for both parties and clearly demonstrates GE's commitment to solid-state lighting technology," said Michael B. Petras, Jr., vice president, Electrical Distribution & Lighting, for GE. For more information, visit: www.emcore.com or www.ge.com