May 13, 2022

Delta Light Acquires Multiple U.S. Architectural Lighting Brands

LF Illumination and Delray Lighting are among the brands acquired by global lighting maker.

Privately held Belgian lighting company, Delta Light, has ratcheted up its investment in the North American architectural lighting market with the acquisition of Lambent Lighting Group – which is comprised of U.S. architectural lighting brands, LF Illumination, Delray Lighting, Visual Lighting Technologies (VLT) and Softform Lighting.

Delta Light is an architectural lighting company with 650 worldwide employees. The company designs and manufactures well-engineered interior and exterior lighting products for architectural applications. Delta Light does not publish a product catalog, instead, it publishes The Lighting Bible, now in its 14^th Edition. The company reaches specifiers in the U.S. and Canada though lighting agent channels.

By the numbers:
Lambent Lighting Group was previously owned by Minneapolis private equity firm, Stone Arch Capital. According to the announcement, Lambent Lighting Group is made up of 7 offices and 3 showrooms. Its 125 employees and 55 agents achieve sales of $60 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Agents
Delta Light did not cite any plans to align North American agents or leave agent networks intact. As LF Illumination, Delray, VLT and Softform came together under Lambent, the brands did align reps in many markets yet some legacy agent-brand relationships remained intact in numerous territories including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and others. Past actions may or may not predict future ones.

New Group Name & Leadership
The Lambent Lighting Group team will remain on board after the acquisition and will lead the new organization - Delta Light Group North America. The strategy will be jointly outlined, but the organization will be able to operate autonomously. Lambent Lighting Group leadership will take on the following roles for Delta Light Group North America:

Loren Kessel, CEO, Delta Light Group North America
David Komonosky, Chief Brand Ambassador
Eileen Cheng, Chief Financial Officer
Daniel Haydt, Chief Operating Officer
Scott Hershman, Chief Creative Officer

Thomas Landren, previously VP Sales/General Manager for Delta Light USA, will take on the role of Business Unit President, US. Jean-Mathieu Grob, previously General Manager, Delta Light, Canada, will take on the role of Business Unit President, Canada.

Delta Light Group is not affiliated with Delta Electronics, or with Amerlux, A Delta Group Company.

Below is the announcement from Delta Light Group.

Delta Light Group acquires Lambent Lighting Group and strengthens position in North American lighting market

With the acquisition of North American Lambent Lighting Group, Belgian family-owned Delta Light Group confirms its ambition to become a dominant global player in architectural lighting. Lambent Lighting Group consists of leading brands for high-end architectural applications such as Delray Lighting, LF Illumination, VLT and Softform. This acquisition fits into the strategy of further growth internationally, and more specifically in the North American market. Delta Light Group has long been active in North America with four sites in the US (Miami and Pompano Beach in Florida, New York, Los Angeles) and one in Canada (Toronto), but to support organic growth, this acquisition creates a large, global organization with local strength. Lambent Lighting Group turned out to be the perfect party for this. Led by experienced management, this group represents complementary product portfolios, sectors and geographic regions. The new group, Delta Light Group North America, will be led by the current management of Lambent, reporting to the executive committee of Delta Light Group in Belgium (Europe).

A strong local presence in the North American market

Delta Light Group has the ambition to achieve global growth with Delta Light and its brands. In order to put the group more on the North American map and to become a dominant player in architectural lighting in North America, an even more professional organization is being set up.

“This fits perfectly in the strategic ambition to become the reference in inspiring, high quality architectural lighting solutions. North America is one of the largest economies and most growing market segments. So our ambition is to realize this there as well.”

- Jan Ameloot, CEO Delta Light Group

Delta Light Group already has three offices in the US (Pompano Beach in Florida, New York, Los Angeles) and one in Canada (Toronto), with its own teams, and recently opened a 550m² showroom and training center in Miami. The acquisition of Lambent Lighting Group with two offices in California and one in Texas creates a strong, local organization with greater commercial clout that is close to the local market in order to respond to local needs and standards.

“In fact, we want to create a full blown organization, with experienced local people. This will bring us even closer to the customer, in a larger part of the market. A stronger local team will allow us to be even more responsive to the local market and product needs.”

- Jan Battheu, Managing Director Delta Light Group

Lambent Lighting Group, the perfect match

Lambent Holdings was founded by private equity fund Stone Arch Capital to establish partnerships within the fast-growing LED lighting sector. With brands such as Delray Lighting, LF Illumination, VLT and Softform Lighting, it has the right complementary mix in terms of product portfolio. This significantly strengthens its commercial clout with joint customers as a total solution can be offered through the combination of the different brands in both groups.

Geographically, Lambent is a perfect complement for the presence of Delta Light Group in the US and Canada as Lambent covers the entire area of North America. In addition, they have a strong, seasoned team led by experienced management with decades of experience in the lighting industry. This team will remain on board after the acquisition and will lead the new organization - Delta Light Group North America. The strategy willbe jointly outlined, but the organization will be able to operate autonomously with normal reporting lines.

“As we’ve gotten to know the Delta Light team, we’ve seen that this organization has a very similar culture to ours at the Lambent Group. They’re ambitious and entrepreneurial. They have the same can-do mentality and customer-first, service-oriented, approach to the business. They’re dynamic and quick to respond and adapt. And we’ve been energized by the great collective potential we see as we move forward together.”

- Loren Kessel, CEO Delta Light Group North America

A win-win on all fronts

Delta Light Group acquires Lambent Lighting Group. The result of this acquisition is a solid, large group with a worldwide reputation in total solutions in the field of architectural lighting, quality and design, a large geographical spread and an extensive network. The customers will have an even stronger group to work with, with a wide range of products and an experienced team with a solution-oriented mentality. For the employees, the acquisition offers opportunities including internal knowledge exchange and growth opportunities.

A group of strong brands

Lambent Group is a house of strong brands, Delray Lighting, LF Illumination, VLT and Softform Lighting. These brands will retain their own positioning in the market in the new organization, as will the Delta Light brand. The full product portfolio will also be further developed and endorsed and supported by the group in its various departments. With all brands combined, Delta Light Group North America will have a very strong and diversified product offering for all sectors.

“Both groups have a very efficient R&D department. We also see synergies with the various departments in that area. We see opportunities in ‘technology sharing’ and will focus on the development of the different brands in North America and their complementarity to increase our success in the North American market, and to serve the design community even better.”

- Peter Ameloot, CEO Delta Light Group

About Delta Light Group

Founded in Belgium (Europe) in 1989 by Paul Ameloot, Delta Light Group has today grown into a market leader and trendsetter in architectural lighting with strong brands such as Delta Light, AQForm and LEDsGO. Since 2011, the operational management is in the hands of Peter (46) and Jan (43) Ameloot. With innovative lighting concepts for the architectural, commercial and private sectors, the company

is known worldwide for its subtle mix of atmosphere, functionality and design. Today, Delta Light Group employs 300 people at its headquarters in Wevelgem (Belgium), and 650 worldwide. The group is active in 120 countries and has a network of its own showrooms

in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Amsterdam, Paris, London, Milan, Dubai, New Delhi, Moorsele, and partner showrooms in many other cities such as Hong Kong, Sydney, Bogota, Copenhagen, etc...

About Lambent Lighting Group

Lambent Lighting Group (US) consists of leading brands for high-end architectural applications. Lambent Holdings was founded by private equity fund Stone Arch Capital to establish partnerships within the fast-growing LED lighting sector. As of May 2022, Lambent Lighting Group is part of Delta Light Group North America with brands such as Delray Lighting, LF Illumination, VLT and Softform. The group with 7 branches, 3 showrooms and 55 agents achieves sales of USD 60 million with a team of 125 employees.

During the acquisition, we were advised by the following partners: