Corporate and M&A
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ArticleHoya production and order systems greatly affected by cyberattack
Please click here for the most recent update on this news. Hoya Corporation announced on April 4 that, following the discovery on March 30 of an IT system failure at one of its overseas subsidiaries, some of the group’s production plants and order systems for several products had been ...
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ArticleNew management structure and increased retail focus for MPG
Following the death at the end of 2023 of Dr. Michael Pachleitner, its founder and CEO, the eponymous MPG (Michael Pachleitner Group) is entering a new era of its history with a new management structure and a strategic focus on the development of its retail business unit. We sat down ...
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ArticleTwo top-ten German optical retailers join forces to take over Edel-Optics
Optiker Bode and ROTTLER, two family-owned and historical optical retail chains respectively based in Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, are joining forces to take over Edel-Optics, an online optical retail pionneer in both Germany and Europe. Founded in 2009, the company had filed for insolvency proceedings in February. Edel-Optics has ...
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ArticleiVision Tech enter lens business as 2023 parent company sales rise 19%
The Italian eyewear group iVision Tech announced it was entering the lens sector with the acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Bulgarian lens producer IVILENS OOD for €280,000, as it continues on the acquisition path following the purchase of the French high-end eyewear manufacturer Henry Jullien in September. Stefano ...
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ArticleNew owner for Horizons Optical
Oakley Capital, a London-based private equity investor focusing on mid-sized companies, has announced its acquisition of a majority share in Horizons Optical, the Spanish-based supplier of software and equipment for the production of customized ophthalmic lenses. Horizons Optical, which was originally the R&D division Indo Optical was spun off from ...
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ArticleMazzucchelli takes further steps on sustainability journey
Mazzucchelli 1849 is building a new factory in its hometown of Castiglione Olona in northern Italy, set to be opened in the second half of this year. Giampietro Pedrazzini, CEO, spoke to us recently about how that facility fits into Mazzucchelli’s plans to reduce its environmental footprint, along with other ...
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ArticleHans Anders and Eyes + More owner up for sale
According to various reports in the Dutch financial press, which we could confirm with people close to the matter, the optical retail group behind the Hans Anders, Eyes + More and Direkt Optik banners has been put up for sale by 3i, its major shareholder since 2017. In its last ...
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ArticleBacked by new financial partner, Opal-Demetz plans more M&A
We have learned at the recent Mido show in Milan that Opal-Demetz, the French company specializing in children’s eyewear, sports eyewear and low-cost frames known as in France a “deuxième paire” (a second pair of eyeglasses, sold at a nominal fee to customers), opened its capital to private equity at ...
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ArticleRodenstock upgrades portfolio, fine-tunes group strategy and synergies
After its participation at the opti show in Munich in January, Rodenstock presented its latest innovations at its booth during the Mido show in Milan, from Feb. 3 to 5. The German-based lens maker introduced this year its new LayR coating, which it describes as an extension of its biometric ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica acquires Japanese retail chain
EssilorLuxottica is about to deploy its full-scale vertical-integration business model in Japan. We have learned that the Italo-French group has acquired the business of Washin Optical, a Japanese mid-size optical retailer founded in 1951, through its Luxottica Japan subsidiary. The information has not been officially announced by the group yet, ...
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ArticleZeiss acquires IP from Mitsui Chemicals
Zeiss Vision Care has acquired a “comprehensive intellectual property (IP) portfolio, including a suite of patents,” from Mitsui Chemicals (MCI), a Japanese company with wide-ranging business lines, among them “vision care materials,” and an R&D department split between synthesis, polymer science and tech for manufacturing processes. Zeiss has not disclosed ...
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ArticleStore network upgrade, digitization and HR key to Paris Miki rebound
Like all well-established Japan retailers across all sectors, Paris Miki is facing an apparently unsolvable equation: finding sustainable growth in a country where the population is forecast to decline by approximately five percent every ten years. While many of these companies are heavily investing to develop their business abroad, particularly ...
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ArticleOpal Demetz acquires Roussilhe
In an agreement aimed at ensuring the longevity of both businesses and at developing French manufacturing, Opal Demetz, an eyewear SME based in Lyon has announced the acquisition of Roussilhe, a smaller French eyewear company with a large portfolio of in-house brands produced at its Oyonnax factory. “Together, we ...
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ArticleMagrabi aims to consolidate regional leadership before entering new markets
Following up on our article last February about the expansion of MAGRABI Retail Group, the leading optical retailer in the Middle East region, we talked with Yasser Taher, who was appointed CEO of the family-owned group at the start of this year, after having served as Chief Operating Officer since ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica integrates Bliz to sports portfolio
EssilorLuxottica has announced the integration of BLIZ, a brand of sport eyewear, snow goggles and helmets, in its sport portfolio which already includes Oakley and Costa. The brand was previously owned by Future Eyewear, a Swedish-based eyewear company selling and distributing other brands like Dr. Zipe (sport eyewear), Prestige (sunglasses) ...
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ArticleThélios acquires Barton Perreira
Thélios, the eyewear entity of LVMH, has announced the signature of an agreement to acquire Barton Perreira, the U.S.-based luxury eyewear brand. The acquisition follows only a few weeks after that of Vuarnet, the French high-end sports eyewear brand, underlining the expansion of Thélios’ business into proprietary brands and designer ...
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ArticleiVision Tech CEO details group’s strategy
Still a relatively newcomer in the Italian and international eyewear sector, iVision Tech has gathered a lot of attention from the industry in recent months with the company’s debut on the Euronext Growth Milan stock exchange this summer and the acquisition of French high-end eyewear maker Henry Jullien just before ...
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ArticleIs Marcolin going to change hands?
According to insider information leaked to Bloomberg, PAI Partners, the majority shareholder of Marcolin Group, is looking to sell its stake in the company and has appointed Goldman Sachs to gauge the market’s interest in a deal that would value the eyewear manufacturer at approximately €1.35 billion. The French-based ...
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ArticleAkoni Group puts focus on craftsmanship-loving opticians and consumers
In the wake of the recent Silmo show in Paris, where the company was exhibiting its eyewear collections – house brand Akoni Eyewear and licensed fashion brands Balmain and Valentino – for the first time, we talked with Rosario Toscano, CEO of Akoni Group, about the DNA and the development ...
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Article10-year old Swiss Eyewear Group has passed the 20 million pairs’ mark
Swiss Eyewear Group, the eyewear company behind the INVU brand of polarized sunglasses, has announced that it has sold over 20 million pairs since the creation of the company ten years ago. As reported then in Eyewear Intelligence, the company was founded by a group of former senior managers of ...
