The lighting giant Signify is purchasing Fluence to strengthen Signify’s “agriculture growth platform.” [Image: Kyotoyasai/Wikimedia Commons]
Signify, a Philips Lighting spin-off, recently announced that it will be acquiring ams Osram’s horticultural lighting division Fluence for about €242 million (US$273.8 million) in the first half of 2022, pending regulatory approvals. With the purchase, Netherlands-based Signify hopes to expand its position in the North American agricultural lighting market—including “light recipes” for legally growing cannabis.
After the deal closes, Fluence will function as an entity within Signify’s agricultural lighting business division Digital Solutions.
“We’re excited to announce that we’re acquiring Fluence, strengthening our agricultural lighting business, one of our main growth platforms,” Signify’s Harsh Chitale, leader of Digital Solutions, said in a press release accompanying the announcement. Signify estimates that by 2024, the global market for agricultural lighting could grow by 20%, to some €1.6 billion.
LEDs for sustainable agriculture
Fluence is focused on using LEDs tuned to specific wavelengths and intensities—that is, light recipes—to optimize the growth of different plants. The company has demonstrated that the increase in crop yield and quality from the company’s energy-efficient LED solutions benefits farmers as well as consumers and the environment.
Fluence’s light recipes include light optimized for the legal growing of cannabis. Indeed, because of legalization of the plant in some areas of the United States and Canada, lighting for this purpose constitutes a majority of Fluence’s revenue, which totaled €124 million between October 2020 and September 2021.
Signify says its purchase of Fluence is in line with its commitment to improving food availability and providing farmers with lighting that reduces their carbon footprint. In addition to the Fluence light recipes, Signify will also acquire more than 140 issued and pending patents for light quality, thermal management and installation methods for cannabis and other crops.
In a press release David Cohen, CEO of Fluence, said of the acquisition: “Since Fluence’s founding, it has been our sole mission to improve the interaction between light and life to yield a healthier and more sustainable world. Adding our lighting solutions to Signify’s strong portfolio empowers our combined businesses to deliver the world’s most advanced horticulture technology to cultivators on a global scale.”