Fagerhult acquires Airlight
Access to low cost manufacturing and new geographical markets led Fagerhult to complete the strategic acquisition of Airlight, with head offices in Ankara, Turkey.
AB Fagerhult (publ), founded in 1945 in the south west of Sweden, is one of Europe’s leading lighting companies, with more than 2,700 employees in more than 20 countries, and is listed on the Nasdaq OMX, Stockholm.
Fagerhult has a vision of becoming a leading global supplier of professional lighting solutions.
“Our strategy is to become a clear leader in the European lighting industry”, says Johan Hjertonsson, CEO at Fagerhult.
As a first step towards this, Fagerhult has made several acquisitions in Europe over the last few years. This time, the acquisition was Airlight, a family operated company with head offices and manufacturing in Ankara, Turkey.
Airlight employs 160 people and manufactures armature and indoor lighting systems for the commercial sector. Application areas include offices, educational buildings, hospitals, shopping centres and airports.
The acquisition of Airlight, gives Fagerhult access to the dynamic Turkish market and other interesting emerging markets in the region. Fagerhult also gains access to low cost manufacturing in the proximity of existing local markets.
“Cross-border acquisitions are often more complex than domestic ones, especially as the cultural and legal aspects are different from what we’re used to in the Nordic countries. Having access to local Turkish expertise, through Global M&A, meant we could tackle these problems early on and work proactively to secure a rapid and efficient transaction”, says Robert Bäckström, responsible partner and CEO at Valentum.
The acquisition of Airlight was positively received by the market when it was disclosed on the 20th of December 2013. Fagerhult’s share price increased by 6% an hour after the news was made public.