July 5, 2022

Another Agent Acquisition Shifts Nebraska Market

Mercer Zimmerman ratchets up its presence in Nebraska marketplace

Kansas-based lighting agent Mercer Zimmerman has strengthened its multi-state Midwest footprint by acquiring its second lighting agent in the last 10 months.

Omaha-based Lighting Specialists, the long-time Hubbell Lighting agent, has become part of Mercer Zimmerman as of July 1. All eleven Lighting Specialists employees are expected to join the Mercer Zimmerman team and will become part of the existing Omaha office of Mercer Zimmerman. In September 2021, Mercer Zimmerman expanded its Kansas & Western Missouri footprint into Nebraska & Iowa with the acquisition of AES Lighting Group – the longtime Cooper Lighting agent.

With agent/manufacturer representation agreements usually having clauses that cite non-transferability, it’s likely that the newly combined agent has been working and will continue to work out deals with existing Lighting Specialists manufacturers to continue representation under the new, larger agent banner of Mercer Zimmerman.

One major lighting manufacturer that won’t be joining the newly combined agency is Current™. The HLI Brands (formerly known as Hubbell Lighting) will cease being represented by Lighting Specialists as of August 1 and will cause Current’s HLI brands to seek new representation in Nebraska. A leading consideration for Current HLI representation may be Integrated Sales – the existing agent for Current™ GLI Brands, Cree Lighting and Lutron.

Three takeaways:

Mercer Zimmerman just got bigger and stronger in the Nebraska market
At the moment there is one less specification-focused C&I lighting agent to compete against in Nebraska
Mercer Zimmerman has long been the number one agent in the Kansas City market, and along with their Cooper Lighting partnership, appear to be pursuing a similarly strong position in Nebraska.

NEBRASKA LIGHTING MARKET: Partial Snapshot

Below is the announcement from Lighting Specialists

Lighting Specialists is excited to announce that effective July 1, 2022, we have been acquired by Mercer Zimmerman, the Midwest’s leading lighting and controls agency.

Since 1928, we have focused on representing top lighting and control manufacturers in Nebraska and Western Iowa. Now we’re joining forces to accomplish a bigger vision – one that we think we can better achieve with Mercer Zimmerman.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to all our customers and industry partners who have allowed us to build an exceptional team within our agency. While we’ll be working under a new name, we will continue to provide the same excellent service and support across Nebraska and now throughout Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri.

As with all important business decisions, we will work closely with our manufacturers and many customers to make the integration process as smooth as possible.

Both Lighting Specialists and Mercer Zimmerman share a passion for improving the way we serve the lighting and controls industry, and we couldn’t be more excited about what the future holds.