Samsung is buying a ten per cent stake in its local rival Pantech, South Korea’s third largest handset maker.

The deal, reported by the Yonhap news agency, was worth around 53 billion won (US$47.6m) for the struggling manufacturer, which was put right 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 have already got strong ties in semiconductors and displays – Pantech buys parts from the tech giant – demonstrating the volume of bilateral cooperation in some areas of the smartphone business. Pantech currently sits behind LG as a mid-tier Android manufacturer and trades within the US, Japan, China and a few areas of the ecu.