Although EM confirmed that Lighting is not part of the deal with Electrolux, it is plausible that GE would put Lighting on the block, an offering that Bloomberg reporter Richard Clough quotes Nick Heymann, William Blair Co. analyst and longtime student of the electrical industry, estimating at around $1 billion.
“Lighting is the next piece of the classic GE businesses that are not a critical part of the refocus on infrastructure-related businesses,” Heymann said to Bloomberg.
We can see the logic there, but there is also an infrastructure and energy-efficiency side to LED lighting that could be seen as a valuable fit to GE's plans, particularly with the rollout of connected roadway lighting systems and the current boom in LED retrofit projects. All the same, with Siemens having spun off Osram and Philips testing the waters for a spin-off of its Lumileds and auto LED lighting businesses, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see GE follow suit with a sale or split.
