Lumileds is a lighting company that develops, manufactures, and distributes
LEDs,
light bulbs, and related products for
automotive lighting, general lighting, and specialty lighting. Lumileds operates as a private company, having funds affiliated with
Apollo Global Management.
History
Lumileds was formed in November 1999 as a joint venture between
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
Lighting and
Agilent Technologies. Upon Philips' acquisition in 2005, Lumileds became a business unit within Philips Lighting and became known as Philips Lumileds Lighting Company.
In March 2015, Lumileds parent company Philips agreed to sell an 80.1 percent stake in the business to the investment fund, Go Scale. In October 2015, ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' reported that the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) regulatory body may block the $2.9B deal owing to fears of Chinese subversion of the US high-tech sector. The deal was cancelled in January, 2016, due to the CFIUS concerns. CFIUS concerns were based on transfer of
gallium nitride semiconductor technology, which is used in LEDs as well as defense applications.
In December 2016, Philips announced that it has signed an agreement to sell an 80.1% interest in Lumileds to certain funds managed by affiliates of
Apollo Global Management. Philips retains the remaining 19.9% interest in Lumileds. The transaction was completed in July 2017, under customary closing conditions, including the relevant regulatory approvals.
IP strategist Keaton Parekh helped separate the intellectual property portfolio after the spin off from Philips.
On August 29, 2022, Lumileds filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
protection. The company reached an agreement to enter restructuring in a bid to deleverage and strengthen its balance sheet in effort to emerge from bankruptcy within less than 60 days. Lumileds' other international subsidiaries were not part of the bankruptcy reorganization. 63 days after the company filed for bankruptcy, Lumileds completed its bankruptcy restructuring and exited bankruptcy on November 1, 2022.
Products and applications
The company sells products for automotive, illumination and specialty applications, with automotive lighting comprising 60% of its sales in 2015.
In architectural lighting they released the Luxeon C in 2015, a family of high-power LED light sources capable of delivering multiple colors from a single focal length.
Lumileds LEDs are used in the
Bridge of Peace, an illuminated pedestrian bridge in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
, and in the
Times Square Ball made by
Waterford Crystal.
Patent dispute with Epistar
Lumileds had a history of patent disputes with competitor
Epistar over the use of
AlInGaP LED technology. However, in September, 2009, Philips Lumileds signed an agreement to license AlInGaP technology to Epistar.
See also
*
Epistar
*
Cree Inc.
*
Nichia
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.lumileds.com/
Manufacturing companies established in 1999
Light-emitting diode manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Amsterdam
Dutch brands
1999 establishments in the Netherlands
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022