Over the past five and a half years, private equity (PE) firms have acquired more lighting manufacturers in the US & Canada than either publicly traded companies or private companies that are not controlled by a PE firm. This data was compiled by Merrimack Group, which specializes in advising lighting companies in mergers & acquisitions (M&As).

PE firms executed 41% of lighting M&As, publicly traded companies had 30%, and non-PE private companies had 29% of lighting acquisitions.

According to Merrimack Group, publicly traded companies were historically the larger acquirer category, but several factors led to greater PE acquisitions:

• Some large public firms were acquired by PE firms, such as GE Lighting, Hubbell Lighting, and Cree.
• PE firms have raised large funds for M&A.
• The lighting industry is highly fragmented making it appealing to PE firms.
• The LED lighting industry addresses sustainability investment goals.

A look at Merrimack’s time-series data, below, shows that the trend is reversing back to publicly traded companies in the last couple years, likely due to higher interest rates.

Read the full Merrimack Group blog post here.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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