GENLYTE THOMAS GROUP ACQUIRES ENTERTAINMENT TECHNOLOGY

Genlyte Thomas Group LLC (GTG) announced on August 31 that it has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Rosco Entertainment Technology, a subsidiary of Rosco Laboratories of Stamford, CT. Rosco Entertainment Technology manufactures lighting equipment and controls, including such well-known products as the Intelligent Power System line of dimmers and the Horizon PC-based lighting control. GTG plans to operate the business under the name Entertainment Technology. In addition, Rosco Laboratories is entering into an agreement with GTG to represent select ET products.

The purchase represents a whole new world for Entertainment Technology's product line, which were developed with live performance in mind. However, Genlyte is one of North America's top manufacturers of lighting fixtures and controls for commercial, industrial, and residential markets, with product lines that include Day-Brite, Fibre Lite, Ledalite, Lightolier, Starlight, Thomas, and ZED, to name a few.

Larry Powers, president and CEO of Genlyte Thomas, said, “We are pleased with the potential for this acquisition to enhance our commercial lighting products package. We intend to focus Entertainment Technology on providing innovative products into the educational, hospitality, theatrical, and theme park markets. Although the expected sales during 2002 will be less than $5 million, there is potential for the ET product package to increase our market penetration and product offering into existing GTG markets. The technically innovative and leading-edge IPS dimming products of ET have a place not only in the theatrical and entertainment markets, but also in architectural markets where we are already successful.”

Stan Miller, president of Rosco Laboratories, added, “We will benefit in several ways with this melding of GTG's manufacturing strengths and ET's products. We, too, are very excited about the prospects this combination can bring to Rosco.” Gordon Pearlman, president of Rosco Entertainment Technology, adds, “We couldn't have picked a better company to align with. GTG has strengths in both marketing and manufacturing to take our technology to an entirely new kind of user. Now architectural and residential lighting will benefit from quiet and powerful IPS dimming technology.”

Genlyte Group is traded on the NASDAQ market under the symbol GLYT. Thomas Industries is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TII.