Philips Gains Leadership in Lighting Market, Enhances Healthcare Training System

11/28/2007

Royal Philips Electronics NV, a major player in the healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle markets, announced plans to buy North American luminaires company Genlyte Group Incorporated for $2.7 billion. According to Philips Lighting Chief Executive Officer Theo van Deursen, the acquisition will earn Philips the leading position in the U.S. lighting market by market share, leapfrogging General Electric Co. and Siemens AG's Osram.

The proposed transaction builds on Philips' earlier LED-related acquisitions of Color Kinetics, TIR Systems, Partners in Lighting International, as well as an earlier investment to acquire full ownership of LumiLeds.

"Besides growing our presence in North America, this deal deepens our contacts to end users, such as wholesalers, contractors, architects and lighting designers, helping us speed up the market rollout of more energy efficient lighting and the introduction of new lighting technologies, like solid state lighting," says van Deursen.

Following completion of the acquisition, Philips expects to use Genlyte's market presence as a platform for introducing newer, green products into the North American market. Philips' also plans to extend Genlyte's activities beyond North America.

In other company news, Royal Philips Electronics deploys Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional software from Adobe Systems Inc. to empower 135,000 registered users of its proprietary Healthcare Learning Management System with synchronous training, video conferencing, and web seminar clinical and technical programs.

Royal Philips Electronics seamlessly integrated Acrobat Connect Professional software into its in-house SCORM-compliant Learning Management System. Incorporating synchronous elements into its specialized healthcare education programs enables the organization to more securely deliver training programs globally without limitations of connecting through firewalls or requiring software downloads, which represent an obstacle for many healthcare institutions.

Insofar, the company has seen Acrobat Connect Professional enhance the training experience, while at the same time complement the onsite training held at customer locations in more than 100 countries and Philips Global Training Centers in Europe, Asia and North America.