July 31, 2026
LMPG's Ownership Evolution Gains a New Partner
As Platinum Equity takes a controlling stake, founder F.X. Souvay remains invested
Few companies in the lighting industry have had a corporate history as restless as Lumenpulse's. Public in 2014. Private in 2017. Nearly public again in 2021, until the paperwork got pulled with weeks to spare.
Now, in 2026, shares in the company known today as LMPG are changing hands again, and the story behind today's press release is less about who's buying in than about who's getting out.
Platinum Equity's investment in LMPG gives the Beverly Hills-based firm a controlling position in the Montreal manufacturer, according to founder François-Xavier (F.X.) Souvay, who spoke with Inside Lighting in the days before today's announcement. The press release describes Souvay, management, and W Investments as rolling their equity forward and remaining "significant investors." Souvay's own account is more specific: once the deal closes, he and Platinum become LMPG's two primary shareholders, full stop.
That distinction matters. Souvay told us he is rolling 100 percent of his equity into the new structure rather than cashing out, a detail that separates this transaction from a founder exit. Peter Timotheatos remains President and CEO, a role he's held for two years as part of what Souvay described as a deliberate succession plan. Souvay continues in his executive chairman capacity.
How Power Corporation Became a Departing Partner
The party actually leaving the cap table is Power Corporation of Canada, through its Power Energy Corporation subsidiary, which joined as a shareholder in LMPG's 2017 take-private deal. That transaction valued the company at roughly C$600 million ($462 million USD) at C$21.25 per share, an 85.8 percent premium to its final trading price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
According to Souvay, Power's split with LMPG was not born of dissatisfaction. Power restructured its entire investment strategy in December 2019, stepping back from direct operating stakes to refocus as a financial services platform. That left LMPG holding a shareholder who, by Souvay's telling, had effectively become a disengaged long-term holder through no fault of the business itself.
The mismatch is what drove LMPG's aborted 2021 return to the public markets, an offering explicitly structured to create an exit ramp for Power. The company pulled that prospectus in June 2021 as COVID-era investor appetite soured mid-process. Revenue had climbed to roughly C$314 million ($237 million USD) in 2019 before dropping about 14.6 percent to C$268 million ($200 million USD) in 2020, and LMPG posted net losses in both years.
With COVID-era lighting markets distrupted and the investing public financially skittish in 2021, LMPG turned to private capital instead, a path that funded the run of architectural lighting acquisitions between 2022 and 2024 that rapidly built out its current portfolio.
Platinum's Pitch, and the Aerospace Connection
Souvay's account of choosing Platinum runs through an unrelated industry. He said he first took notice of the firm after it took an aerospace and defense company, Héroux-Devtek, private, and a contact from that deal eventually connected him with Platinum's team. What followed was an 18-month evaluation, by his description, of how to finally resolve LMPG's ownership question.
The public language from Platinum leans on scale and fragmentation. Co-President Jacob Kotzubei called LMPG's platform "highly differentiated," while Managing Director Dan Krasner pointed to the specification-grade lighting segment's growth potential. Souvay's framing runs parallel but distinct: this is fuel for expansion, not preparation for sale.
A Foundation Built for More Acquisitions
LMPG's portfolio now spans eight brands: Lumenpulse, Fluxwerx, Sternberg, Exenia, Pa-Co Lighting, Lumca, ALW, and Vode.
Less visible is the company's reach into its own go-to-market channel. LMPG holds ownership stakes in three Canadian lighting agencies, Luxtec in Quebec, Toronto Lightworks in the GTA, and CDm2 Lightworks in Vancouver, a structure that puts the manufacturer squarely in two parts of the specification relationship it depends on.
We asked Souvay whether the shopping is over, and he gave the kind of answer that keeps every option alive. Nothing about a specific target, nothing about timing, nothing ruled out. But he didn't sound like a man done buying. Platinum didn't sign up to help LMPG stand still, and neither, by the sound of it, did he.
For an industry that's watched this company move fast before there's more coming, Souvay just isn't saying when.
