There are three acquisitions in the LED lighting field

Due to changes in the market environment and competitive landscape, asset sales have frequently occurred in the LED lighting field in recent years. From the original Osram, Royal Philips, CREE, GE to Panasonic and other internationally renowned lighting manufacturers, more and more well-known brands have withdrawn or partially withdrawn from this stage. The withdrawal of these companies has increased the concentration of the LED lighting market, which is beneficial to companies with a certain scale and comparative advantages. In the context that there is still room for growth in the LED lighting market, these resource-rich companies are also constantly acquiring valuable assets to achieve the goal of rapidly expanding business scale and market share.

Among them, Signify has become a clear example. Since 2017, Signify has launched an extension M&A strategy and has completed more than 10 acquisitions, covering lighting subdivisions such as smart lighting, smart control technology, smart control systems, animal and plant lighting, outdoor landscape and architectural lighting related to smart interconnection. It has seized the development opportunities in niche markets, and its business footprint has continued to expand, and the effects of these assets are also significant. Signify has admitted that it will continue to implement the strategy of external mergers and acquisitions in the future. As it said, the company recently acquired lighting-related assets.

Signify acquires the assets of the former Panasonic lighting accessories factory

Foreign media reported on October 10 that Signify has acquired the assets of Douglas Lighting Controls, Inc. (DLC), the former Panasonic lighting accessories factory.

Douglas Lighting Controls mainly produces control systems and end-to-end energy-saving digital lighting control solutions for application scenarios such as commercial buildings, schools and comprehensive stadiums. It is reported that in its last fiscal year, Douglas Lighting Controls achieved revenue of CAD 25 million.

It is understood that Douglas Lighting Controls (DLC) and Universal Lighting Technologies (ULT) were originally two lighting accessories factories owned by Panasonic. In March 2021, global private investment company Atar Capital acquired these two companies and renamed them Universal Douglas Lighting Americas, Inc. (UDLA). In January 2022, UDLA announced that it would change its name to Universal Douglas, officially merging the two companies.

According to foreign media reports, in March 2023, Atar Capital suddenly closed Universal Douglas, and Signify purchased some assets of Douglas Lighting Controls for US$250,000, including patents, brand trademarks and product designs. The details are as follows.

Patents: Signify has acquired 10 patents held by Douglas Lighting Controls. The patents mainly focus on innovative technologies and methods in the field of lighting control, covering occupancy sensors, lighting control systems, etc.

Product designs and related assets: Signify has acquired a range of product-related assets from Douglas Lighting Controls, including designs for more than 1,400 part numbers, such as mechanical designs, detailed product data sheets, PCB layouts, circuit diagrams and software highlights. This means that Signify obtains the complete product series and functions of Douglas Lighting Controls, as well as the production and sales rights of these products.

Trademark: This acquisition includes the right to use the "Douglas Lighting Controls" brand name. Signify can make full use of Douglas Lighting Controls' established brand image in the future.

In addition, according to the financial terms of the agreement, Signify shall reimburse the seller 50% of specific transaction costs, up to a maximum of US$20,000.

It is reported that in an email about Douglas, a spokesperson for Signify confirmed that Signify has acquired the intellectual property rights of Douglas Lighting Controls, which will help strengthen the company's market position.

Judging from the main business of Douglas Lighting Controls, these assets can be integrated with Signify's existing smart connected lighting and related control technologies and control systems to form complements and synergies, helping to enhance Signify's overall competitiveness in the smart lighting market.

In addition to Signify, there have been two acquisitions in the international LED lighting field in the past month or so (incomplete statistics), one of which is also related to smart interconnected lighting, and the other is related to special light sources such as UV/IR.

FSG, a large American lighting distributor, acquires LMI

According to news on October 5, FSG (Facility Solutions Group), one of the largest lighting distributors and contractors in the United States, announced the acquisition of American lighting management and distributor Lighting Management Inc. (LMI).

LMI is a lighting products, design and solutions provider headquartered in New York, USA, with offices in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. LMI has value-added lighting expertise, budgeting capabilities and project management services capabilities, and has been providing products and services to retail, commercial and hospitality customers throughout the United States for the past 47 years.

FSG was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Texas, USA. It mainly provides cost-effective comprehensive solutions for lighting, electrical, technical and signage issues. It has a strong market position in the fields of building technology systems, integration, installation and management services. It currently has more than 2,000 employees.

In 2019, FSG and Osram reached a cooperation in the field of smart building IoT. In this cooperation, FSG mainly provides end customers with turnkey solutions combining Osram's Encelium® lighting management system, lamps integrated sensors, controls and components, etc., to empower the smart building IoT field.

It is reported that in recent years, FSG has been promoting its business expansion and growth strategy. The addition of LMI will bring expertise in lighting services, design and control to FSG, which will help FSG further enrich its lighting solutions and service scope and provide support for its continued expansion in the United States.

America's Acelida Technologies acquires Heraeus' specialty light source business

On September 15, Heraeus officially announced that it would sell 100% of its shares in its special light source business to Excelitas Technologies, an American photonics expert. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

Heraeus Specialty Light is headquartered in Kleinostheim, Germany, with production sites in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, China and Japan, and sales branches in parts of Europe and Southeast Asia. It mainly provides high-quality photonic solutions covering wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared. Products include light sources, radiators, highly vertically integrated lamps, emitters and systems, etc., for analytical measurement technology, industrial processes such as drying, curing or molding, medical technology and the disinfection and treatment of air and water.

Excelitas Technologies® Corp. is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. Its products cover light sources, optical devices, detectors and sensors, cameras, etc. In the field of optoelectronics, it mainly provides innovative optoelectronic solutions to meet the lighting, optoelectronics, detection and optical technology needs of OEM customers. The products include lamps and lighting systems, lasers, LED components and systems, UV curing systems, UVC disinfection light sources, etc.

Upon completion of this transaction, Heraeus Specialty Light's technology portfolio can be combined with Excelitas Technologies' existing broad range of plasma and LED products. As the acquirer, Excelitas Technologies will also use this to expand its product range and create synergies. It will also be able to leverage the established market influence of Heraeus Specialty Light Sources to quickly promote business growth