Lumileds

Lumileds was formed in November 1999 as a joint venture between Philips Lighting and Agilent Technologies. It develops and markets LEDs. Upon Philips' acquisition in 2005, Lumileds became a business unit within Philips Lighting and became known as Philips Lumileds Lighting Company. Lumileds is a global light engine company and develops, manufactures and distributes LEDs and automotive lighting products.

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 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 will retain the remaining 19.9% interest* in Lumileds. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including the relevant regulatory approvals.