China Rethinks Osram Acquisition
Chinese firms have toned down their interest in the lighting specialist Osram in the face of growing hostility in Germany over foreign takeovers of technologically innovative domestic companies.
A set of Chinese investors who had wanted to buy the German lighting specialist Osram are rethinking plans as the German government grows more suspicious of foreign acquisitions of domestic companies, Handelsblatt has learned.
Handelsblatt reported in September that the Chinese firms San’an and Go Scale Capital had taken an interest in Osram, which manufactures chips used for iris recognition technology in smartphones.
But an industry source told Handelsblatt on condition of anonymity, that all sides were realizing that completing the deal would not be as easy as all sides had hoped.
“All sides have taken their foot off the gas a bit,” said the source. “The policymakers have woken up.”