BREAKING NEWS: OSRAM Sylvania sold; Chinese company one of three buyers

The corporation that owns one of Versailles’s largest employers, OSRAM Sylvania, has sold its general lighting business to a Chinese consortium. The $442 million sale was announced in a news release from OSRAM’s Munich, Germany, headquarters.

The news release suggests that employment at the Versailles plant and elsewhere will not be affected, at least not in the near future: “The transaction is focused on growth and will not induce additional personnel measures due to a limited overlap in organizational structures between the involved companies. The agreements and principles safeguarding the future that OSRAM and the employee representatives agreed upon remain in place. Consequently, works agreements and social plans will not be changed until the end of 2018.”

The lamps and lighting portion of the company recently took the name LEDvance and has been operating as an independent company for less than a month.

According to the news release, the three buyers include strategic investor IDG Capital Partners, Chinese lighting company MLS, Co., Ltd., and financial investor Yiwu State-Owned Assets Operation Center.

A call to OSRAM Sylvania’s Versailles plant manager was not immediately returned.