The Netherland's Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG), the world's No. 1 lightbulb maker, said today it would acquire Louisville, Ky., lighting fixture company Genlyte (Nasdaq: GLYT) for $2.7 billion, giving Philips an inroad to market its energy saving lighting technologies in North America.

The all cash deal, which is Philips' largest acquisition to date, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

The Genlyte transaction tops off a series of recent moves by the company in energy efficient lighting in the U.S. and Canada.

"It started with us taking a position, majority and then full control, of Lumileds," said Pierre-Jean Sivignon, CFO of Royal Philips Electronics, in a conference call.

Philips initially invested in San Jose, Calif.-based Lumileds in 2004, then took majority control of the light emitting diode, or LED, maker in November 2005 for $950 million.

Earlier this year, the company grabbed Vancouver, British Columbia's TIR Systems, a manufacturer of solid state lighting modules, for $72.8 million.

And in August, Philips completed its purchase of Boston LED maker Color Kinetics for approximately $879.6 million.

"We felt we that wanted to absolutely lock in those technology moves in order to have the maximum chance to leverage our position in the luminaires in North America," said Sivignon. Luminaires are lighting fixtures.

Philips, which is offering $95.50 per share for Genlyte, said the acquisition would create the No. 1 lighting company in North America.

The Dutch electronics maker said a big part of the move is to introduce its greener and solid state lighting technologies in the U.S. and Canada through Genlyte's contacts with distributors, architects and designers in the region.

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Genlyte, founded in 1984, makes indoor and outdoor lighting products including incandescent, fluorescent, and high-intensity discharge fixtures, mostly for the commercial and industrial markets, which could be crucial, as economists are predicting a slump in residential construction.

"We are fully aware that the next 12 to 18 months could be difficult," said Sivignon. But he said that Genlyte is "only 10 percent on the residential side."

Theo van Deursen, CEO of Philips Lighting, added that Genlyte is only in the high-end residential market "which will be less affected than the lower-end and mid-end residential market."

Genlyte's products are sold under brand names including Bronzelite, Capri/Omega, Lightolier, and Wide-Lite. Van Deursen said Philips plans to keep the existing brand names for the time being.

Philips said all of Genlyte's management and its 6,700 employees will continue to work for the company, which will be integrated into the Luminaires business group within Philips Lighting.

"We have 37 manufacturing plants in North America, one in Mexico, six in Canada, and 31 scattered throughout the U.S.," said Larry Powers, Genlyte chairman and CEO.

Powers said Genlyte also has a plant in Germany.

For the 12 months ending in September 2007, Genlyte had sales of approximately $1.6 billion, and Philips said it expects Genlyte's revenue to continue to grow as it uses Genlyte to introduce newer, green products into the North American market.

"As far as the megatrends in lighting, which means energy saving lighting solutions as well as solid state lighting, which will conquer this world very fast, we are now extremely well positioned in our view," said van Deursen.

Philips said the deal will put it in the No. 2 spot for lighting fixtures in the U.S., where currently it does not make the top 3. The acquisition would also bumps Philips to the top spot for lighting fixtures globally.

Although it will climb in rank in the lighting market, the company could be rocking the boat with its current customers.

"If you look to lighting and electronics, where we have a strong position in the U.S., then I must say that we are now a supplier of components as well as luminaires, so we are in competition with our customers," said van Deursen.

But he said this is a situation that happens more and more in large companies.

"We have proven in our track record in Europe that we can very well handle to separate these businesses, so companies still feel a trust in us as a supplier, even if we are a competitor at the same time."