Wästberg announces investment by Austrian lighting company XAL

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 XAL, the Austrian lighting specialists. The move sees Magnus Wästberg and XAL buy-out the founding shareholders and XAL becoming the sole minority partner in the business.

Wästberg has collaborated with some of the world’s leading architects and designers including David Chipperfield, Ilse Crawford, Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of Industrial Facility, Inga Sempé, Oki Sato, Jasper Morrison and John Pawson and XAL’s investment is a strong endorsement of Wästberg’s position as an independent, design-focussed lighting company. More importantly the arrangement signals a step change in the evolution of Wästberg, giving the brand immediate access to the R&D, production and distribution resources of one of best technical lighting producers in the world.

Magnus Wästberg remains as Wästberg’s CEO and the majority stakeholder in the business and Wästberg will remain an independent company and brand, which will continue to be headquartered in Sweden.

The deal will also see Wästberg produce the majority of their lamps in XAL’s state of the art production facilities in Austria and Slovenia and XAL’s sales teams represent the Wästberg brand in key markets.

Magnus Wästberg says: ‘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. And last, but definitely not the least; to be able to offer the best value for money.’

Wästberg adds: ‘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.’

Commenting on the new partnership, Paul Fraissler, Director of International Sales, XAL says: ‘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.’

For further information or to speak with Magnus Wästberg please contact:
Neil Byrne neil@tomorrowpr.co.uk
Tomorrow PR
+44 (0) 207 249 7409

About Wästberg

In close collaboration with leading architects and designers, Wästberg’s aim is to create well- being through good light. Wästberg creates technologically driven, economically viable and environmentally conscious lighting. Lighting that answers to fundamental human needs, both physical and emotional, and adapts to these needs as they evolve and shift.

About XAL

XAL’s success story started over 30 years ago. Since then, XAL has been working with lighting designers, architects and planners to develop custom luminaires of the highest technical standard, which impress with their style and aesthetics. The XAL group, headquartered in Graz, Austria, now has 1,300 employees worldwide and 30 international subsidiaries. Whether for retail spaces of world-class brands, modern offices and headquarters, exclusive hotels, restaurants, or private homes, there is always one goal: to push the boundaries of the technically feasible, enabling visionary designs.

Founded in the early 80s as one of the first design lighting companies in the Benelux countries, WEVER & DUCRÉ has been part of the XAL groups since 2011. Today it is an international brand that exports to 60 countries worldwide. In order to be as close to the customer as possible the WEVER & DUCRÉ international sales team is represented throughout the main European countries and Asia.

xal.com