LED company Lightech Electronic Industries Ltd. has been acquired by Vancouver-based Carmanah Technologies for $18.5 million.

Carmanah agreed to buy all Lightech's outstanding shares. Lightech, based in Lod and founded in 1992 by David Schreiber, designs drivers and transformers for use in LED and halogen lighting which it manufactures in China.

Lightech recorded a loss of $1.2 million on $19.5 million revenue in 2009. But in the first half of 2010 revenue totaled $10.6 million with net profit of $800,000.

Carmanah chairman Rob Cruickshank said, "With this merger, Carmanah makes an expansion into a complementary and synergistic business. Carmanah will be taking advantage of the vast lighting market's current shift to LED, and applying the joint resources of Carmanah and Lightech to satisfy the urgent market need for LED lighting. In turn, the resulting technology developments at Lightech will ultimately advance the capabilities and applications of Carmanah's outdoor area illumination product portfolio."

The deal is expected to close in November 2010.

Carmanah, traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange, had sales of $32 million in 2009 and lost $600,000 and had less than $7 million in cash at the end of the second quarter of 2010.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 26, 2010

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