Munich Court Gives Osram Spin The Go Ahead

Well that didn’t take long to get back on track. After shareholders overwhelmingly approved Siemens’ (SI) Osram lighting spinoff, the transaction was quickly derailed by a lawsuit. A small group of shareholders claimed the meeting was invalid due to acoustics issues, a charge which Siemens considered ‘without merit’. A Munich judge agreed with the company and tossed the complaint stating the shareholders “did not participate adequately in the AGM.” I know the US gets a bad rap for being a litigious society – and we are no legal experts here – but this case seemed pretty soft.

While the spin will no longer take place in April (obviously), I would expect this to get back on track shortly. This could be interesting as the lighting industry is going through quite the transformation as LED lights become more mainstream and Osram will likely be one of the major players in the space. Cree (CREE), one of the leaders in LED lighting, has seen its share price explode this year (despite a recent earnings hiccup) as growth in the lighting sector continues to pick up.

There should be some additional information later this week when Siemens issues its earnings report As a reminder, Siemens shareholders will receive 1 share of Osram for every 10 Siemens shares owned. For our earlier coverage of the name, click here.

Disclosure: Author holds no position in any stock mentioned.