Acuity Brands  announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Acuity Brands Lighting, completed the previously announced acquisition of Distech Controls Inc., a leading provider of building automation and energy management solutions that allow for the seamless integration of lighting, HVAC, access control, closed circuit television, and related systems.  Acuity Brands Lighting acquired all of the outstanding capital stock of Distech Controls for approximately 318 million Canadian dollars. 

The Indian government intends to slash LED bulb retail prices from the average retail price of INR 300 (US $4.52) to INR 44 (US$ 0.66) under its DELP scheme, reported Times of India.

On Sep. 10, MLS announced that the company will spend RMB$ 180 million (US$ 278.2 million) to purchase stock in Kaistar Lighting with private fund, acquiring 10.91% of Kaistar’s shares.

In general, LED Manufacturers performed quite well over the past eight months in 2015. But competition among LED manufacturers intensified through price wars, patent disputes and fighting over distribution channel were overwhelming. A summary of recent lawsuits among these manufacturers as following:

Osram announced Wednesday it would be selling its 13.5% stake in Foshan Electrical and Lighting (Foshan Lighting) to a subsidiary of Guangdong Rising Assets Management (GRAM) for more than EUR 350 million (US $392.51 million).

Osram’s transformation is making further progress: the company has agreed to sell its 13.5% stake in the Chinese company Foshan Electrical and Lighting (Felco) to a subsidiary of Guangdong Rising Assets Management With this move, Osram will dispose of a non-strategic investment. The agreed selling price is more than EUR 350 million (US $392.51 million), which corresponds to a premium of more than 30% over the current share price. Osram expects to have a pre-tax gain of around EUR 300 million from the transaction, which is expected to be booked in fiscal 2016.

The Indian government should make manufacturing standards for LED lights applied in Prakash Path Yojana (PPY) mandatory, The Economics Times cited a Philips spokesperson saying.

Reliance Energy backed Indian power company BSES discoms sold some 1.6 million LED bulbs in Indian metropolitan New Delhi over the last three months as part of its energy conservation promotion, reported The Economic Times.

Low demand in laptop and TV backlight worldwide and LED bulb price  wars led by major LED manufacturers, most Taiwanese LED manufacturers incurred revenue losses during first half of 2015.

Highlights this week: Chinese manufacturer tests different market strategy by focusing on niche market. Cree rebrands two business as Wolfspeed with strategy changes. Researchers creates less expensive LED with laser- like performance Panasonic to shot down two LED factories soon following its plants shut down in Indonesia.

TOGGLED®, developer and producer of next-generation solid-state lighting technology and named in the Top 25 Most Innovative Companies in South East Michigan by Crain's Detroit, reported today the addition of Ampco Lighting Ltd. to its rapidly expanding Licensing Program.

Cree, a leader in silicon carbide (SiC) power products and gallium nitride (GaN) radio frequency (RF) devices, today announced that Wolfspeed is the new name for the Power and RF division of Cree. The company announced in May that it would separate the business into a standalone company.

Panasonic aims to increase its European lighting revenue in 2018, reported Kyodo News.

Plessey announced UK’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) has officially granted £6.7 million (US $10.26 million) towards the expansion of the Plessey LED manufacturing facility in Plymouth, England. 

Philips Lighting CEO Eric Rondolat recently met with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the biannual “key market visit” to discuss smart cities, smart lighting and solar lighting opportunities in Indian metropolitans, reported LiveMint.

Originally a battery maker, Indian manufacturer Eveready is transiting into the LED lighting market recently with the aim of acquiring at least 10% market shares, according to a Business Standard report.

The French government is planning to give away one million LED bulbs to low income families in the country, reported French media The Connexion.

Ripple effects from volatile Chinese stock market has directly impacted LED capital market, shaking many companies’ management structures. Up to 18 managers in listed LED manufacturers have resigned as of Aug. 25, 2015, nearly double the number of senior managers that retired in 2014.

As of Aug. 21, 2015, 14 Chinese manufacturers have released their financial results for the first half of 2015. Some have become more profitable, while others have continued to incur heavy losses. LEDinside takes a closer look into these companies financial performance.

Globalized competition is inevitable in the LED industry with an increasing number of overseas LED companies entering Chinese market and vice versa.

Illumitex, maker of technologically advanced LED grow lights, today announced an initiative to help innovative indoor growers to secure a portion of a $50M grant fund available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

San’an Opto released its financial results for the first half of 2015 on August 18, 2015. The company’s sales reached RMB 2.3 billion (US$350 million) with 5.26% growth year on year (YoY). The reported net income available to shareholders is RMB 904 million, reflecting a 35.76% YoY growth.

Chinese courts have invalidated Cree’s patent “Apparatus and method for mounting electronic elements” (CN 200780015100.X) in its patent infringement lawsuit against Harvatek, said Harvatek Spokesperson Chi Hsiung Cheng. The company’s future product sales will benefit from the ruling, he added.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science published the Fiscal Year 2016 Phase I, Release 1 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on August 17, 2015, for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. Under DE-FOA-0001366, whose complete listing of technical topics was released on July 20, DOE seeks applicants for grants directed toward FY16 Phase I projects. Topics for this funding opportunity can be found at //science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities and include LED and OLED lighting (see topic 7).

Illumitex and The Pennsylvania State University are pleased to announce an educational partnership that has resulted in more than 400 Illumitex Eclipse ES2 LED grow lights being put into service in multiple greenhouses operated by the storied university's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Reuters recently broke Go Scale Capital’s US $1.93 billion loan to acquire Lumileds and former Philips automotive lighting business. The loan will mostly be used to merge with the $2.8 billion financing to acquire 80% of Lumileds shares.

Qualcomm announced that its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Global Trading, has completed its acquisition of CSR, a leading fabless provider of end-to-end semiconductor and software solutions for the Internet of Everything (IoE) and automotive segments. The acquisition, which was completed at an enterprise value of approximately $2.2 billion ($2.4 billion equity value)*, complements Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.’s (Qualcomm Technologies) current offerings by adding a compelling portfolio of new products, sales channels and a large number of customers in the areas of IoE and automotive – both key growth priorities for Qualcomm Technologies.

Scotland could save millions of pounds per year by upgrading to LED streetlights, according to statistics compiled by Scottish Future Trust.

Leyard Optoelectronic, a leading worldwide provider of LED display products and ancillary systems, and Planar Systems, a global leader in display and digital signage technology, announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement, pursuant to which a U.S. affiliate of Leyard will acquire all of the common stock of Planar for a purchase price of US $6.58 per share. The merger values Planar’s equity at approximately $156.8 million on a fully diluted basis. The transaction is subject to specified closing conditions, including approval by the shareholders of both Planar and Leyard, and antitrust and other government clearance.

According to the data compiled by NPD, U.S. watch sales fell to a seven-year low in June 2015. Retailers sold $375 million timepieces during June, 11% less than one year ago. It is the worst decline since 2008, unit sales dropped 14 %. Release of the Apple Watch has impacted the timepiece industry and resulted in the recent decline.