Over the past year, the LED industry had pondered about the company that would eventually take over Philips lighting component (Philips Lumileds) and automotive business.
Previous market rumors pointing towards CVC and KKR consortium as successful bidders of the deal proved wrong, even the final acquisition deal price was above previous estimates of $2.7 billion.
Philips announced today that Chinese-financed Go Scale Capital had acquired 80.1% of Lumileds shares, and Philips would be retaining less than 19.9% of the shares. The transaction value is estimated to be approximately US$ 3.3 billion, and expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2015.
Following the transaction, the new company will continue to trade under the name Lumileds, led by CEO Pierre-Yves Lesaicherre. Philips will remain an important customer of Lumileds and will continue the existing innovation and supply partnership. The transaction includes the transfer of a broad patent portfolio of more than 600 patent families related to LED manufacturing and automotive lighting from Philips to Lumileds.
