Luxottica, the world’s biggest glasses maker, has announced a billion dollar merger with rival French lens maker Esillor.
Italian eyewear brand Luxottica owns both Ray-Ban and Oakley, and has licensing agreements to create eyewear for designers including Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace.
Luxottica and Essilor have market values of 24 billion euros and 22 billion euros respectively, and when combined, will be worth about 46 billion euros.
Luxottica was founded by 81-year old Leonardo Del Vecchio, who took on the role of CEO two years ago again after the resignations of three consecutive CEOs. The deal may go some way to calm investor worries over Del Vecchio’s succession plans after several years of management upheaval.
Del Vecchio will take a stake of between 31 and 38 percent in the merged group through his family holding Delfin, becoming the biggest shareholder in the company, with Essilor Chairman and CEO, Hubert Sagnières, becoming the executive vice-chairman and deputy CEO of the merged company EssilorLuxottica.
In a statement, Del Vecchio said:
“The marriage between two key companies in their sectors will bring great benefits to the market, for employees and mainly for all our consumers.