EssilorLuxottica Buys GrandVision

PARIS – EssilorLuxottica, the eyewear giant formed by a merger between Italy’s Luxottica and France’s Essilor, has confirmed the acquisition of Dutch optical retailer GrandVision. The company has bought previous owner HAL’s 76.72 percent interest in GrandVision at a cash purchase price equal to 28 euros per share, it said on Wednesday. With this acquisition, EssilorLuxottica will add 7,200 stores to its existing retail network of 10,000 points of sale, as well as more than  37,000 employees and 3.7 billion euros in annual revenue. The company plans to expand its optical retail platform with a focus on Europe. After the completion of the transaction with HAL, which is expected to close in 12 to 24 months, EssilorLuxottica will launch a mandatory public offer for all outstanding GrandVision shares. “With GrandVision we will be able to develop our retail network, finally extended throughout the geographies, and fully enable our multichannel and digital platforms,” said Leonardo Del Vecchio, executive chairman of EssilorLuxottica. “We will raise the quality of in-store experience for products, brands and services for the benefit of all consumers and our wholesale customers.” Hubert Sagnières, executive vice chairman of EssilorLuxottica, said: “This acquisition is another step towards our ambition to eradicate poor vision in the world

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