Post-AGB stars in the LMC as tracers of (binary) stellar evolution

The rare post-AGB objects in the Galaxy display very diverse observational characteristics. Despite the very detailed studies of many of them, there is no consensus on how the individual objects may be linked by evolutionary channels. With poorly known distances and hence luminosities, it is, however, most difficult to interpret the results on the individual post-AGB stars in the broader theoretical context of (chemical) stellar evolution. In this contribution we will report on our project to overcome this problem by focusing on a large sample of post-AGB stars with known distances: those in the LMC. Via cross-correlation of the SPITZER SAGE catalogue with optical catalogues we selected a sample of 1900 LMC post-AGB candidates based on their [8]-[24] colour index and estimated luminosity. We determined the fundamental properties of the central stars of 90 of these objects using low resolution optical spectra that we obtained at Siding Spring and SAAO. About half of the objects in our sample show an SED that is indicative of a disc rather than an expanding and cooling AGB remnant. Our final catalogue of good candidate post-AGB stars will be presented and evaluated.