Austria’s AMS Offers €3.7 Billion to Buy Osram

AMS AG, an Austrian maker of high-tech sensors, has upped its bid for Osram Light AG to €3.7 billion ($4.2 billion).

Bloomberg News says offer to buy Osram at €38.50 per share puts AMS back into the fight for the Munich-based lighting supplier. Last week Osram rejected a bid of €35 per share from U.S. private equity firms Bain Capital and Carlyle Group.

AMS’s offer is similar to one it made but withdrew last month. AMS says its new proposal addresses “valid concerns” made by Munich-based Osram. Financial giant Allianz SE owns stakes in both companies and objected to the Bain-Carlyle offer as too low.

Osram was created when it was spun off from Siemens AG in 2013. The company has become a takeover target after a tiff with Siemens and a series of profit warnings.

Bloomberg says AMS proposes to sell some of Osram’s operations, including its nonautomotive digital division. Osram’s management aims to secure a deal by Sept. 5 but must win approval from 70% of its shareholder to do so.