SGM A/S Files for Bankruptcy

	Peter Johansen, SGM. Photo: Jerry Gilbert

Lighting manufacturer SGM A/S has filed for bankruptcy in Aarhus, Denmark, according to reports in the Danish media.

SGM Lighting, owned since February 2012 by entrepreneur Peter Johansen, currently employs 85 people in Aarhus, according to Danish television station TV2, and the majority of the staff have now been sent home while the company's situation is clarified.

TV2 reported that the company's legal representative, Christian Jul Madsen, has said that several interested parties have submitted offers to buy the entire company.

Originally an Italian lighting brand, SGM was acquired by Italian pro audio manufacturer RCF in April 2009. In November 2010, at a press event in central London, RCF president Arturo Vicari introduced Peter Johansen as the new head of R&D for SGM. Johansen was already well-known in the professional lighting industry as the founder of Martin Professional, in 1987.

Johansen subsequently acquired SGM outright in 2012, moving the company's entire production to Denmark. At the time he said: "I am delighted to be back as an independent operator, as I have always worked better this way."

As recently as May 2015, SGM announced the opening of a new subsidiary -- SGM Nordic AB, located in Gothenburg, Sweden.