Option announces the acquisition of the shares of the Dutch LED lighting companies Lemnis Lighting BV Public and Innolumis Public Lighting BV and merges the two companies into a single commercial organization under the name Innolumis Public Lighting.

By merging the two LED companies, Option creates a strong LED enterprise that will continue to serve the Dutch public lighting market from its new location in Amersfoort and will further expand the activities in Belgium, Europe and worldwide.

Lemnis and Innolumis shared the same portfolio but had geographically divided the market and ran separate organizations.  Following the merge, the single organization will combine the strengths of both organizations.

Option has found a strong partner and its acquisition fits perfectly in its ‘Internet of Things’ strategy.

The advanced technology of Option and Innolumis allows the creation of smart lighting to  provide citizen comfort by real-time surveillance of traffic, parking, road conditions, temperature mapping, CO2 emissions and particulate matter, and maintain safety with real-time integrated camera technology including license plate recognition, people tracking and intrusion detection.

LED street lights represent a saving of 60 to 70%, in addition, savings are increased by an additional 50% with the possibility of dimming the LED lamps. 

With the integration of the two companies public-private partnerships (PPP) in cities and towns are possible with the aim to support the tasks of the government and improve the quality of life of citizens.

A pilot project will take place in the city of Leuven.

Jan Callewaert, Founder and Executive Chairman of Option: "This acquisition strengthens Option’s portfolio with a total solution in the rapidly developing market of Smart City applications. The demand for LED streetlights is growing and Option’s Cloud Gate technology enables the development of smart applications. "

"We are excited to partner with Option. With the integration of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions Innolumis is now ready for the future " says Gert Grolleman, CEO Innolumis Public Lighting.

With the demand of cities and municipalities for energy-efficient street lighting, coupled with smart technology, both companies are on track to make the streets safer, more economical, more environmentally friendly and more pleasant.

The LED lamps have been developed according to the mesopic Innolumis concept with the correct light passing before the human eye, especially in situations of low light. Mesopic light sources have red, green and blue (RGB) LEDs that provide an optimal light spectrum with little energy. Gert Grolleman: "We do not sell light but sight."

Innolumis has an installed base of 60,000 LED lamps, a large number of them in the Netherlands including Schiphol Airport and has a steady stream of repeat orders.

The company foresees a turnover of EUR 6 million this year with a positive operating cash flow from the second half.

The figures of Innolumis, a 100% subsidiary of Option will be included in the reporting of Option.

Gert Grolleman, CFO of Public Lemnis Lighting since 2009, is appointed CEO of the new organization. Grolleman was previously managing director of Talpa, the television channel of John de Mol and worked in various financial positions at the Holland Media Group, the predecessor of RTL Netherlands.  He is one of the founders of SBS Broadcasting and was also general director of Veronica Magazine at that time.

The Supervisory Board consists of Frank Deschuytere, Option CEO; Jan Luyckx, CFO Option and Michel De Wolf, technology expert.