FRANKFURT, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Lighting group Osram has received approval from the German government for the 400 million euro ($425 million) sale of its Lamps unit to a consortium of Chinese bidders, a spokesman said on Monday.
The sale of the traditional lamps and lighting unit, which should allow Osram to focus on LED chips and automotive lighting, is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and from one remaining Chinese authority.
CFIUS last year blocked the $3.3 billion sale of Dutch group Philips' planned sale to Asian buyers of its lighting components division, Lumileds, on security grounds, dealing a setback to its plan to shed its lighting business.
As is usual, CFIUS did not give reasons for its decision.
Philips eventually agreed to sell the business to U.S. investor Apollo instead for $1.5 billion in cash.
Osram agreed last July to sell its biggest unit, now renamed LEDvance with 2 billion euros in sales and 8,800 staff, to IDG Capital Partners, Chinese lighting company MLS Co and financial investor Yiwu State-Owned Assets Operation Center.
While the traditional lightbulb business is expected to decline as more energy-efficient technologies such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grow, the business is interesting Chinese buyers who want brand and distribution channels in Europe and the United States.
($1 = 0.9409 euros) (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan and Irene Preisinger; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)