DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Phillips surpasses GE as largest NA lighting company

I wasn't sure if I should post this or not but then I remembered that General Electric used to be big in the Cleveland area. I'm not sure if it is still open, but Cleveland used to have a large plant and a simple search on their website did turn up some Cleveland job openings so I'm assuming it is still there.



Philips to buy lighting rival for $2.7B
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Royal Philips Electronics NV will buy Genlyte Group Inc. for $2.7 billion, the world's largest lighting maker said Monday.

Phillips agreed to pay $95.50 (64.77 euros) in a management-agreed takeover that values the U.S. company at 1.83 billion euros.

Genlyte's shares closed at $62.67 Friday, with Philips' offer representing a 52 percent premium. Louisville, Ky.-based Genlyte makes fixtures for lights used mostly by companies.

Amsterdam-based Philips said Genlyte had sales of around $1.7 billion in the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

Philips said the acquisition would strengthen its position in energy-efficient lighting, and will allow it to surpass rival General Electric Co. as the largest lighting company in North America.

Theo van Deursen, head of Philips' lighting division, said Genlyte's distribution channels were more important to Philips than its manufacturing technology.

Philips has invested heavily in developing energy-saving bulbs, but has so far been more successful in Europe than in the United States in marketing them.

"It's very important that (Genlyte) are in contact...with the lighting designers and architects, which helps us a lot in bringing new products to the market," Van Deursen said on a conference call.

Van Deursen said Philips hopes to sell new products, especially LEDs, to Genlyte customers.

LEDs, or light emitting diodes, use computer chips to produce light, rather than the glowing filaments used in traditional incandescent bulbs or the gas used in fluorescent bulbs. Philips expects LEDs to gradually replace both incandescent and fluorescent lights in the coming decade, as they are more energy-efficient, they last longer, and the cost of producing them is expected to fall rapidly.

Philips said it expects to complete the deal in the first quarter of 2008, pending approval by shareholders and regulators.

Van Deursen said Philips believed it could boost Genlyte's sales by around $30 million annually with new product offerings, and cut costs by around the same amount by helping the company with purchasing and distribution.

He said Philips did not plan significant cuts to Genlyte's 6,700 employees, of whom 6,500 are in the United States. The employees will be part of one of Philips' fastest-growing businesses.

Philips shares rose 1.7 percent to 28.91 euros ($42.63) in Amsterdam.

The Genlyte buy, if successful, will be one of a spate of recent lighting acquisitions for Philips.

Most notably, Philips bought Boston-based Color Kinetics, an LED maker, for $688 million in June, and in 2005 it bought Agilent Technology Inc.'s half of their LED joint venture, LumiLeds, for $1 billion. Link

I worked at GE for a few years, in '00-02, and still oversee some operations over at Nela Park, in "beautiful" East Cleveland.

Nela Park in and of itself is just an amazing area - the first "corporate park" in the US, built in the early 1910's I believe. I occupies almost 200 acres. Kinda reminds you of a small private college once you're inside.

Nela did a big downsizing at the end of 2000, where the park went from about 1250 employees, to about 850. Then, at the end of '02, they merged with GE Consumer in Louisville, and Louisville became HQ, which eliminated a few hundred more jobs from Nela. their other regional offices for GE's "other businesses (mainly Capital) consolidated into Nela, as GE Consumer Products then merged with another GE business - Industrial to become GE Consumer and Industrial (it's name today). Currently, there are about 600-650 employees at Nela Park.

It's been rumored for longer than I was there how they wanted to sell off the lighting division (when it was still a separate entity) - as it was GE's smallest company, bring in about $11-12 billion. However, from an image standpoint, "lights" and "lighting" is what people think of when someone mentions GE - not NBC, medical devices, aircraft engines, finance options, etc.

Some of the best people from a professional and work ethic standpoint I've ever met are at GE. I'll always support their product because I know how good the people are that work there.

Actually...they should be lighting up Nela Park this week. Certainly worth checking out the display if you've never seen it, although it is just up the road from a pretty rough area of town.

We used to go to Nela Park every year during Christmas.

I deal with a lot of GE equipment. radiographic rooms, OEC C-Arms etc. In fact, the GE service rep just left my office. They do a lot more than people may realize, but don't forget "G E, we bring good things to light" was their slogan for a long time.

GE sold their Quartz/Ceramics division last year (Strongsville, Willoughby and Hebron, OH) which at one time rolled up under GE LIghting. I think GE would like to sell Lighting, but not sure anyone wants it and from an image standpoint, they could lose something like some people say.

What hospital/clinic do you work in?

I'm at Putnam Hospital center in Carmel, NY. Ironically, The Phillips field engineer is here now too. We just bought a new Phillips C-Arm since GE can't sell any yet.

Interesting...PM me if you ever have any issues...i may be able to help from the GE side...