Royal Philips plans to merge lighting units

Bloomberg writes that Royal Philips is looking at combining the LED-component and automotive lighting. They will also look at an initial public offering for the operations. The move will allow the two units to share research and development costs. Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten said, according to the newspaper: “First we will carve out the business and set it standalone, integrate the automotive and LED part, and in parallel we expect to engage with interested parties later this year.”