Sanan Optoelectronics intends to acquire German lighting giant Osram, with full acquisition requiring $8.1 billion
On October 6, according to German economic weekly WirtschaftsWoche, Chinese chip manufacturer Sanan Optoelectronics (600703) plans to acquire German long-established lighting giant Osram.
The report, citing unnamed sources involved in the negotiations, said that Sanan Optoelectronics intends to submit an offer for Osram before mid-October.
According to WirtschaftsWoche, Sanan Optoelectronics may offer approximately 70 euros ($78.39) per share of Osram stock. If a full acquisition is made, Osram would be valued at around 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion).
This is the latest case of a Chinese-funded company bidding for a long-established German industrial enterprise. According to its official website, San'an Optoelectronics is currently the earliest-established, largest-scale, and best-quality full-color ultra-high-brightness LED epitaxial wafer and chip industrialization production base in China. Headquartered in Xiamen, its industrialization bases are distributed across Xiamen, Tianjin, Wuhu, Quanzhou, and other regions. San'an Optoelectronics is an enterprise approved by the National Development and Reform Commission as a "National High-Tech Industrialization Demonstration Project" and recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology as a "Leading Enterprise in the Semiconductor Lighting Project." It undertakes multiple major projects under the national "863" and "973" programs and operates a national-level postdoctoral research workstation and a national-level enterprise technology center.
Osram was founded in 1919 and is currently one of the world's largest light source manufacturers. Alongside Philips Lighting and GE Lighting, it ranks among the world's three major lighting giants. Osram is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and has more than 40,000 employees in over 150 countries worldwide. Osram holds a leading global position in semiconductor technologies such as LED and OLED, with LED product sales accounting for approximately 25% of Osram's total sales. From components to light management solutions, Osram is involved in the complete LED value chain and holds 8,000 LED patents.
In 2013, Osram was spun off from Siemens and listed on the stock market. In Osram's current shareholder structure, Siemens holds a 17% stake, but Siemens also has a Siemens Pension Trust EV company that holds a 2.5% stake, so Siemens accounts for approximately 20% of Osram's shares in total.
In July this year, Osram formally agreed to sell its subsidiary LEDVANCE, with the winning Chinese consortium bidding more than 400 million euros (approximately 439 million US dollars). The consortium includes strategic investor IDG, Chinese lighting company MLS (Mulinsen), and financial investor the Yiwu State-owned Assets Operation Center.