All Corporate articles – Page 24

  • News briefs

    More than 45,000 Essilor employees in 58 countries, or about...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    More than 45,000 Essilor employees in 58 countries, or about 65 percent of the company's total staff, owned shares in the newly formed EssilorLuxottica group at the end of last year. Together, they now own a little more than 4 percent of its equity. This compares with about 35,000 employees ...

  • News briefs

    CooperVision has acquired Blanchard Contact Lenses, a fast-growing scleral lens...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    CooperVision has acquired Blanchard Contact Lenses, a fast-growing scleral lens company. Founded in 1986, Blanchard has operations in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and Manchester, New Hampshire, employing about 70 people. It will retain its name and continue to operate as a separate organization. Blanchard, thanks to a network of distributors, claims to ...

  • News briefs

    Eight months after announcing the deal, the Japanese pharmaceutical group...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Eight months after announcing the deal, the Japanese pharmaceutical group Takeda has completed the $62 billion acquisition of its Irish-based peer, Shire, but it's not sure whether it will retain its eyecare business. As it is, the combined group has annual sales of over $30 billion. Takeda said that its ...

  • Short stops

    Shopko, a big American retail chain with many optical retail...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Shopko, a big American retail chain with many optical retail chains, has announced a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition, accompanied by restructuring plans

  • Short stops

    Another big American retail chain, Sears, barely avoided liquidation as...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Another big American retail chain, Sears, barely avoided liquidation as a hedge fund, ESL Investments, came to its rescue

  • News briefs

    J.P. Morgan Asset Management has made a “substantial” equity investment...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    J.P. Morgan Asset Management has made a “substantial” equity investment in the Acuity Eyecare Group to help the U.S. retailer to build up its network to 200-300 locations over a three- to five-year period through the acquisition of regional eyecare firms and optometry practices. For its part, Acuity recently announced ...

  • News briefs

    Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder of Luxottica who is now...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder of Luxottica who is now the main shareholder in EssilorLuxottica and its executive chairman, continues to increase his stake in Generali as part of his policy of diversifying his investments. His stake in the Italian insurance group now stands at 4.34 percent.

  • News briefs

    Luxottica is financing the regeneration of a park near its...

    2019-01-23T00:00:00Z

    Luxottica is financing the regeneration of a park near its head office in Milan. The park is located in Piazzale Cadorna, opposite the Cadorna railway station, which is the terminus of the rail shuttle to Malpensa airport. Work is already underway and is expected to be over in about a ...

  • News briefs

    As of Dec. 12, Luxottica's shareholdings had tendered 93.30 percent...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    As of Dec. 12, Luxottica's shareholdings had tendered 93.30 percent of their shares to the newly formed EssilorLuxottica group, triggering a squeeze-out procedure under which it will purchase all the remaining shares by Jan. 18, 2019 at the latest. Luxottica's de-listing from the Italian stock exchange is set to become ...

  • News briefs

    Safilo is planning to upgrade in 2021 its U.S. distribution...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    Safilo is planning to upgrade in 2021 its U.S. distribution center in Denver, Colorado with the automation of the “order-to-cash” procedure, a transition that caused significant disruption at the Padua center at the beginning of 2017. Safilo pointed out that the Denver site is less automated than Padua, reducing execution ...

  • News briefs

    Hans Anders has acquired the Eyes + More chain of...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    Hans Anders has acquired the Eyes + More chain of optical retail stores for €60 million, expanding its reach in the value-for -money segment in Northern Europe. Eyes + More has 170 stores of which 119 are located in Germany, 33 in the Netherlands, 10 in Belgium and 8 in ...

  • News briefs

    L Catterton Asia and Mitsui & Co. Principal Investments (MCPI)...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    L Catterton Asia and Mitsui & Co. Principal Investments (MCPI) have jointly acquired a stake in Owndays, a Japanese eyewear manufacturer and retailer with operations all over the Asia-Pacific region. The investment fund is joining other shareholders including members of Owndays' management led by Shuji Tanaka, who took over the ...

  • News briefs

    EssilorLuxottica's executive chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio, said that he calls...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    EssilorLuxottica's executive chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio, said that he calls the new company Essilux to shorten its name. An international trade magazine, Optical World, has been calling it Luxilor, even before its final creation. We like Del Vecchio's abbreviation. Essilor and Luxottica merged on Oct. 1.

  • News briefs

    One Click Ventures, an e-tailer that sells prescription and non-prescription...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    One Click Ventures, an e-tailer that sells prescription and non-prescription glasses online, has been acquired by FGX International, a division of EssilorLuxottica, for an undisclosed amount. The transaction was publicly announced on Dec. 4, although it was closed in the third quarter of 2018. One Click's brands include felix + ...

  • News briefs

    Safilo has inaugurated a nickel-free production line with a daily...

    2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

    Safilo has inaugurated a nickel-free production line with a daily capacity of 20,000 units. The line is part of a €5 million investment package, spread over two years, of its Longarone manufacturing site in Northern Italy that specializes in metal frames. Other investments include a water treatment system. The ...

  • News briefs

    Mark'ennovy, the European producer of contact lenses, secured debt and...

    2018-11-05T00:00:00Z

    Mark'ennovy, the European producer of contact lenses, secured debt and equity funding from two new investors in September. Bond Capital Partners, a London-based investment and advisory firm for SMEs, has acquired a substantial stake in the company, while Alantra, a global investment bank and asset manager, is helping to finance ...

  • News briefs

    The Tabacchi family has increased its stake in Perini Navi,...

    2018-11-05T00:00:00Z

    The Tabacchi family has increased its stake in Perini Navi, a major Italian builder of yachts, from 49.99 percent to 75 percent. The Tabacchis were previously shareholders in Safilo and Salmoiraghi & Viganò. Edoardo Tabacchi is currently vice-president of Perini Navi.

  • News briefs

    Mister Spex has postponed its initial public offering. Three years...

    2018-11-05T00:00:00Z

    Mister Spex has postponed its initial public offering. Three years ago, Mister Spex announced that it would go public by the end of this year. Goldman Sachs acquired one-fifth of Mister Spex's shares in January 2015. So far, the German eyewear retailer had collected €80 million from investors and employed ...

  • News briefs

    This month, Luxottica is renting Villa Reale in Monza, north...

    2018-11-05T00:00:00Z

    This month, Luxottica is renting Villa Reale in Monza, north of Milan, for its Luxottica Days, during which the company will display its 2019 collections to buyers. During the period, Villa Reale will be off limits for tourists, including its royal apartments, causing some controversy. But the mayor of Monza, ...

  • News briefs

    Alcon, the eye care business of Novartis, has announced plans...

    2018-09-27T00:00:00Z

    Alcon, the eye care business of Novartis, has announced plans to locate its future global headquarters in Geneva once its proposed spinoff from Novartis International is complete. The Swiss group decided to cut ties with Alcon in July, to focus on its portfolio of pharmaceutical products (see Eyewear Intelligence, Vol. ...