Paul van Gerven
8 July 2019

Osram Licht’s accepted a 3.4 billion euro takeover bid from private equity firm Bain Capital and Carlyle Group. Provided enough shareholders are willing to put up their shares, the lighting firm will go private again after a six-year stretch as a public company.

Osram was spun off from Siemens in July 2013 and struggled ever since, suffering from competition in the LED market and declining car sales – the Munich-based company has strong ties with the German automotive industry. It sold a majority stake in its consumer lighting division in 2016. According to management, Bain and Carlyle have developed a solid strategy to return to profitability.

Osram LED_web
Osram presented its first quantum dot LED light earlier this year. Credit: Osram