Pegasus Capital Advisors recently announced it has acquired a majority interest in the business of LED Effects, an LED lighting design and engineering firm. In addition, Govi V. Rao, currently a senior executive at Philips Lighting North America, will join LED Effects as its new president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2007.
Founded in 1993 before LEDs were considered lighting devices, LED Effects pioneered the use of LEDs in lighting and is one of the few companies to offer true digital control technology with in-house design. In addition to supplying lighting products to the gaming industry, the company provides custom lighting solutions for architectural and artistic projects worldwide.
“LED lighting is clearly the wave of the future, and we are thrilled to be partnering with a market leader in this field,” says Richard Weinberg, a partner at Pegasus. “LED lighting has enormous benefits over traditional lighting technologies–lower energy consumption, longer life, and enhanced flexibility in design and controls–and we believe the company is extremely well positioned to capitalize on this transition.”
Rao, the incoming president and chief executive officer of LED Effects, is currently vice president and general manager of the North American Solid State Lighting Luminaries business at Philips Lighting Company. He has held leadership roles in several industries across North America, Asia, and Europe, including lighting and plastics. He is an advisor to the US-China Center for Sustainability and serves on the advisory board for the Institute for Sustainable Enterprise at Fairleigh-Dickinson University.
“I am thrilled to be joining the business at this exciting time,” comments Rao. “The company’s people, intellectual property, and technology leadership are the cornerstones of a solid foundation, and I believe this combination will enable us to bring unique and innovative solutions to our customers worldwide.”
Kevin “Fuzzy” Furry, co-founder and current president of LED Effects says, “This is an incredibly exciting development for us and provides the support we need to outpace market growth. Since 1993, we have been visionaries in the use of LED lighting before there was an industry, and now we have the resources for the tremendous opportunities ahead.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.