Gagarin Lighting Plant (GSTZ)

History

2023: Warton bought GSTZ for hundreds of millions

The Russian manufacturer of lighting equipment, the Varton group, bought the Gagarin Lighting Engineering Plant (GSTZ), which specializes in the development and production of explosion-proof lighting equipment and lighting equipment for transport infrastructure. Varton also acquired the co-owner of GSTZ - Industry LLC. The deal became known on October 19, 2023.

As Kommersant writes with reference to the executive director of the Varton TPK Sergei Mordavchenkov, the deal will allow the group to enter new markets, as well as expand its production capacity and product portfolio. The new owner of GSTZ plans to increase the number of jobs at the plant.

Varton bought the Gagarin Lighting Plant

The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, the TPK only disclosed the price range - 100-300 million rubles. According to Evgenia Dolina, director of relations with government agencies at MSC BL Group (manufacturer of LEDs and light devices), the market value of GSTZ and Industry may be 200 million rubles, but the deal is unlikely to exceed 100 million rubles.

All large companies have already received assets or competencies in explosion protection, so such a purchase of Varton is expected and speaks of the high margin of the segment on the one hand and the need to enlarge and integrate the supply of industrial lighting - on the other, - said Dolin in a conversation with the publication, adding that the lighting niche for transport is more difficult in production terms, but important for infrastructure development.

Olga Grekova, general director of the Association of LED Manufacturers and Systems Based on Them, noted that GSTZ and Industry were in a "precarious financial situation," which could reduce their cost. Varton decided to buy these assets in order to participate in public procurement for the production and sale of explosion-proof lamps within the framework of the state defense order, she said.^[1]

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