All Corporate articles – Page 18
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News briefs
Zeiss invests $180m in new U.S. innovation center
As part of its global strategy to expand its presence near research centers and growth markets, Zeiss announced this week the completion of its Zeiss Innovation Center, a new facility located in the San Francisco Bay area. The site will serve as an R&D, production, sales and customer service, bringing ...
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Article
New Look Vision Group changes hands
New Look Vision Group, a leading optical retailer in Canada, has announced an agreement for its acquisition by NL1 AcquireCo, a newly created investment vehicle composed of funds managed by FFL Partners, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), an investment fund from San Francisco and the family ...
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News briefs
EMNUK restructures after withdrawing Kodak lenses
EMNUK, a U.K.-based lens manufacturer that is part of the Essilor group of companies, has entered a restructuring process for its Quedgeley site, the Optician reports. The move follows the EMNUK’s decision to remove the Kodak lenses from its portfolio and is said to impact 40 workers, with the company ...
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Article
Maison Bourgeat relaunched in a DTC venture
Vertical integration has been the name of the game lately in many industries including ours, and even more so since the Covid-19 outbreak, with brands going direct to consumer as the dominant pattern. The revival project of the Maison Bourgeat name offers a different picture though, with a 5-store optical ...
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News briefs
Krys to boost its lens laboratory output
During an official visit of representatives from the Île de France region to its lens laboratory near Paris last week, Krys, one of the leading French optical retailers, announced another investment plan for the extension and modernization of its Codir plant and logistics’ center. The company had already announced investments ...
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News briefs
J&J takes part in a $36m round for the development of presbyopia correction eye drops
Visus Therapeutics, an American pharmaceutical company based in Seattle, announced yesterday the completion of a $36 million financing round to fund the company’s research on its Brimochol product, an eye drop drug designed to correct the effects of presbyopia with one daily application. The drug is currently in the second ...
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News briefs
Zeiss Vision Care takes over a U.S. Vision lab
Zeiss Vision Care announced last week the takeover of U.S. Vision’s laboratory in New Jersey, according to a report by Vision Monday. Details of the transaction have not been disclosed but the company said it would keep 150 former U.S. Vision employees onboard. U.S. Vision manages about 370 retail locations ...
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News briefs
Kering invests in a secondhand luxury fashion items website
Kering, the French luxury group and mother company of Kering Eyewear, took a 5 percent share in the French unicorn Vestiaire Collective, an online platform selling secondhand luxury fashion items. Besides Kering, the U.S. investment firm Tiger Global Management also pitched in the new €178 million financing round, as well ...
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Article
Solstice Sunglasses files for bankruptcy protection
Solstice Marketing Concept LLC, owner of the Solstice Sunglasses retail chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week in the Southern District of New York, after its sales nose-dived by more than 50 percent last year from 2019 levels. The company highlighted the impact of the Covid-19 crisis and ...
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ArticleCooperVision expands manufacturing facilities as demand grows
CooperVision announced the expansion of manufacturing facilities located in North America and Europe due to growing demand for its contact lenses. It also believes that the Covid-19 pandemic will force eye care professionals (ECP) to review their long-term business practices. The Gilbert site, situated in suburban Phoenix and currently producing ...
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News briefs
Bausch Health repaid $900m in debt in 2020
Bausch Health repaid some $900 million in debt in 2020 from cash on hand and cash generation. The company has no debt maturities or mandatory amortization payments until 2024. In the fourth quarter, the company repaid about $480 million in debt, the last payment being made on Dec. 31 and ...
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News briefsSilhouette’s Neubau brand becomes an independent unit
Neubau Eyewear, which is owned by the Austrian company Silhouette International, will operate as an independent company from Jan. 1. It will become a subsidiary with its own sales and marketing channels but production will still be guaranteed by Silhouette’s two production sites in Austria. Neubau, which focuses on stylish ...
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News briefs
LVMH head sees company exiting the Covid-19 crisis stronger
The French luxury goods group LVMH is coming out of the Covid-19 crisis “rather stronger” thanks to its worldwide presence, according to its chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault. “We have for a long time had the strategy of covering most of the planet with our sites, stores, subsidiaries,” he ...
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ArticleManager takes over GemOptics from Mondottica
As part of its strategy to focus on its eyewear distribution business, with licensed brands such as Christian Lacroix, Sergio Tacchini or Pepe Jeans among others, Mondottica International has sold its entire stake in the wholly-owned unit GemOptics to Robert Content, the general manager of the French company. Founded in ...
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News briefs
Pourquery testing laboratory opens an optical division
Pourquery Laboratories, a family-owned testing and certifying company based in Lyon, France, has just opened a new optical division for the analysis of protective glasses and visors, ski goggles, eye and face protection, sunglasses and other types of glasses. The new department is headed by Julian Delport, former director of ...
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News briefs
U.S. Vision to axe 299 jobs due to Covid-19
USV Optical, which is part of the Refac group and trades under the name U.S. Vision, has informed the state of New Jersey, where it is located, that it plans to lay off 299 workers. The job cuts are expected to be executed by the end of the year. The ...
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ArticleNew CEO and brand positioning for Hoya Vision Care
Hoya has announced the appointment of Alexandre Montague as the new CEO of Hoya Vision Care, the lens division of the Japanese group. The French eyewear industry veteran started in this position in August, after spending six months at the helm of Hoya Eye Care, the company managing the contact ...
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ArticleSynsam builds new plant as it moves production to Sweden
Synsam plans to move eyeglass production from Asia to Sweden next year. The project involves the construction from scratch of a new factory that the company claims will focus on sustainable production. The facility is scheduled to be completed in autumn of 2021 in the town of Ockelbo. With an ...
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ArticleEssilor restructures its French sites
Essilor, the ophthalmic lens unit of the Franco-Italian group EssilorLuxottica, is grouping four existing French sites into a new laboratory that will be located in the Paris region. From the end of 2023, the company will transfer the ophthalmic lens business of the sites of Antony, Vaulx-en-Velin and le Mans ...
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News briefs
Rationale of Essilux, GrandVision tie-up remains unchanged
The strategic logic behind EssilorLuxottica’s proposed acquisition of GrandVision has not changed despite the litigation between the two companies, Leonardo Del Vecchio, Essilux executive chairman, told the Italian daily Il Messaggero. Del Vecchio is the founder of Luxottica and is the main shareholder of Essilux through his family holding company ...
