Siemens has announced it is selling its remaining 17 percent stake in Osram Licht to institutional investors, ending its four year relationship with the lighting company.
There are reports that over the past four years, Osram and Siemens battled over strategies in the LED market. Osram is currently a market leader in the automotive lighting market, and is developing new products for cars, including headlights and diodes for self-driving cars.
Osram, listed by Siemens in July 2013, clashed last year with its biggest shareholder and former parent company over its new strategy of expanding in the general LED lighting market.
Siemens released a statement after the sale, announcing that the money from the 17% stock sale will be used for “general corporate purposes”. Siemens has what is called a “bond plus warrant” with Osram, and must retain a very small amount of stock until 2019.
Osram released a short statement after the stock sale, thanking Siemens for the partnership. There have been repeated reports about Chinese investors taking over Osram, but nothing has been confirmed. Last year Osram sold it’s biggest lighting unit, which is now called LEDvance.