When LEDs Magazine reported on ams Osram’s first-quarter financial results web call last week, we noted a conspicuous-by-absence moment when CEO Alexander Everke left Traxon Technologies off a list of companies that ams is selling.
Now, we think we know why: It’s likely that ams Osram had already found a Traxon buyer.
A week after the analysts’ call, the company announced yesterday that it has agreed to sell Traxon, a Hong Kong–based provider of architectural and façade lighting, to privately held lighting company Prosperity Group, also headquartered in Hong Kong.
After much “will they or won’t they” speculation by LEDs, Everke finally confirmed in early April that Traxon was indeed on the block.
It seemed curious when Everke neglected to mention Traxon last week while simultaneously reminding analysts that the company’s Clay Paky entertainment lighting unit and Digital Systems Eurasia group (which makes lighting electronics and LED drivers) were still for sale.
So at the time we fired off some questions, including asking why Everke was mum on Traxon. As can be their custom, ams Osram did not return our emails (perhaps we’re going into their spam box).
It is now reasonable to surmise that Everke omitted mentioning Traxon because he had already struck the deal with Prosperity with the knowledge that the announcement would come later, as it did yesterday.
As for the transaction itself, the two companies revealed little substance, providing neither a sale price nor an anticipated closing timeframe. They also did not state how many Traxon employees will join Prosperity. LEDs has asked, and we await the answers.
Ams Osram described Prosperity as a company that has been “a long-term partner to ams Osram and Osram for over 40 years.” It noted that “the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.”
Prosperity general manager Jack Chong said Traxon will operate as an independent entity within Prosperity.
“With this acquisition, we take a significant step into the global lighting market, with strengthened ability to provide complete solutions and services globally,” he said.
Prosperity’s website notes that the company was founded in 1978. Highlights have included several projects in China, including Hong Kong, and in southeast Asia. It lists Hong Kong’s modern West Kowloon railway station and the adjoining Xiqu Centre for Chinese Opera among its showcase installations, as well as subway and airport lighting in Beijing, and shopping mall and resort lighting in Singapore, among others.
“Prosperity’s deep roots in the lighting industry, its experience in luminaires, and the long-term relationship between the companies make this an ideal next step in the evolution of the whole Traxon team,” said ams Osram’s Wilhelm Nehring, executive vice president of the digital business unit.
Traxon’s projects have spanned Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including recent deployments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The announced sale is the latest in a series of disposals of illumination operations as ams Osram emphasizes semiconductors such as LEDs, lasers, and sensors. It has been shedding Osram lighting groups since acquiring Munich-based Osram in July 2020. Ams’ core business before the Osram acquisition was in optical chips and sensors, and it is sticking to that.
Recently announced sell-offs have included horticultural lighting company Fluence by Osram to Signify and finished headlamp operations to France’s Plastic Omnium.
Over the 22 months since acquiring Osram, ams Osram has also sold smart lighting company Digital Lumens; Osram’s North American LED driver and light engine operations to Acuity Brands; and a lighting components factory in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
MARK HALPER is a contributing editor for LEDs Magazine, and an energy, technology, and business journalist ([email protected]).
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