Luminus Devices, a VC-funded firm developing and selling solid-state lighting products, recently was sold to Chinese LED maker Sanan for $22 million. Luminus' customers include LG, Acer, Zumtobel, EYE Lighting, Philips, Denmark's Martin, and Germany's Vialux.

The lighting industry is going through a drawn-out transition from traditional fluorescents to LED, and 2013 has seen strong progress in the commercialization of LED lighting. There will be winners and losers along the way, and in the case of Luminus Devices, it's not winner this time.

According to investigation, the firm's assets total $ 11,909,900 and its liabilities total $ 17,479,000 as of December 31, 2012. The firm's annual revenue in 2012 was $ 17,189,700 and net income was only $ 3,196,900. It is not difficult to find the net liabilities of Luminus Devices are $ 5,569,100.

Acquiring a company with negative net assets is too hard to understand. But there broker researcher thought that Sanan acquiring Luminus Devices is mainly aimed at obtaining the patents of Lumimus Devices. The data indicate that the Luminus Devices own 93 patents around the world and 58 pending patent, of which it has acquired and is applying for 94 U.S. patents.

These patents cover the LED product design, manufacturing solutions, packaging, systems and applications in all aspects. Currently, the Luminus Devices with Nichia, Seoul Semiconductor, China Taiwan Epistar have patents cooperation. The brokerage researchers pointed out that after the acquisition the quantity of patents Sanan gained is not very large, but these patents can add some weight to Sanan when negotiating with other companies.