Wästberg announces investment by XAL
(Sweden) – New partnership signifies a major step forward for Swedish lighting brand.
Wästberg, the Swedish lighting company founded by Magnus Wästberg in 2008, has announced a new partnership with Austrian lighting specialists XAL. The move will see Wästberg and XAL buy out the founding shareholders, with XAL becoming the sole minority partner in the business.
Wästberg will remain as CEO and the majority stakeholder in the business, with the company continuing to operate as an independent brand headquartered in Sweden.
The deal will also see Wästberg produce the majority of its lamps at XAL’s production facilities in Austria and Slovenia, and XAL’s sales team represent the Wästberg brand worldwide.
Magnus Wästberg said: “For some years, I have been working hard to find a way to increase the growth rate of Wästberg without losing our core values and the culture that has come to embody our long-term relationships with designers, suppliers and customers. Scale is a must to be able to make truly good lighting, to fully explore the ideas generated in our collaborations and to take advantage of all the opportunities presented by the rapid development of technology.
“The support of XAL provides the perfect partnership for the next chapter in the evolution of Wästberg. It is a partnership where we will continue to have the core values and culture of a family-run company coupled with the resources of a big one.”
Paul Fraissler, Director of International Sales at XAL, added: “We complement each other perfectly. On top of XAL’s high-end architectural lighting solutions and Wever & Ducré’s decorative luminaires, we are now offering our customers designer lighting by the world’s most renowned architects, designers and lighting experts. Furthermore, we are strengthening our position in the Scandinavian market and our international sales team is distributing Wästberg’s high-end designer luminaires throughout Europe.”
