All Corporate articles – Page 3
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News briefsTopcon investing in vision measurement app company
Topcon Healthcare is investing in Okko Health, company in the UK that develops home-monitoring smartphone apps for vision measurement. As the company itself puts it, Okko embeds the “deep vision science behind simple games on smartphones and tablets,” yielding applications for clinical practice, research and the development of drugs and ...
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News briefsThélios inaugurates new Italian production site for metalworking
Thélios, the eyewear division of LVMH, has inaugurated a 20,000 square meter production site dedicated to metal processing for eyewear on the site of the former Safilo factory in Longarone, Italy, that it acquired in 2023. Veneto Region’s Councillor, Valeria Mantovan, and the President of LVMH Italy, Toni Belloni were ...
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News briefsArkema adding transparent-polyamide capacity in Singapore
At the factory in Singapore it inaugurated in 2022 – reputedly the world’s largest for bio-circular materials – Arkema is building a unit for the manufacture of its Rilsan Clear transparent polyamide, used for consumer electronics, appliance and medical equipment as well as eyewear. Representing an investment of about $20 ...
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News briefsXpanceo raises a quarter billion
Xpanceo – a company we spoke with in June, and which has been exploring ways to put the tech of smart glasses into contact lenses – has raised $250 million in Series A funds, at a valuation of $1.35 billion. Leading the funding round was Opportunity Venture (Asia), with offices ...
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News briefs
Certottica posts revenues of €5.3 million, names new board
Certottica Group, the Italian eyewear and optical product certification body majority-owned by the Italian eyewear association ANFAO, said it posted revenues of about €5.3 million in 2024, while its Ebitda came in at 12 percent of the top line. The group’s net assets grew to €4.8 million from about €3.3 ...
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ArticleMeta takes 3% share in Essilux – with more to come?
What seemed like an only-a-matter-of-time thing since July last year is now a done deal, according to Bloomberg. Meta has acquired a minority stake in EssilorLuxottica, its smart glasses partner. “People familiar with the matter” told the US financial news outlet that the US tech giant had invested around €3 ...
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ArticleBrand building, distribution and portfolio expansion keep Izipizi in the fast lane
Double-digit revenue growth is a common feature of many startups in their very early years, but, as businesses scale up, the fast pace naturally becomes harder to sustain. However, some achieve to keep the double-digit momentum going well into their teenage years. IZIPIZI, the French-based company “doing everyday glasses that ...
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News briefs
Founder family increase stake in Afflelou to 38%
The family of Alain Afflelou, founder of AFFLELOU, is increasing its share in the group from 29 percent to 38 percent following two separate financial operations. Lion Capital remains the controlling shareholder of the company with a 62 percent stake. In detail, AFFLELOU has placed €50 million in ...
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News briefs
Bausch + Lomb completes bond issuance and partial refinancing of its debt
Bausch + Lomb confirmed last week the successful completion of the refinancing plans announced a few days before. The contact lens and eye care group said that its Bausch+Lomb Netherlands B.V. and Bausch & Lomb Incorporated subsidiaries have closed the offering of $675 million senior secured floating rate notes maturing ...
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News briefs
SDC Technologies among investors in flō Optics
SDC Technologies, the specialty coatings subsidiary of Mitsui Chemicals, announced yesterday that is was one of the industry companies that invested earlier this year in flō Optics, an Israel-based startup specializing in the additive manufacturing of lens coatings. As reported then, the $35 million financing round was led by “leading ...
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News briefs
Safilo keeps buying own shares for “future investment opportunities”
Safilo Group has appointed Keppler Chevreux as broker to implement its latest share buy-back program, which was approved by shareholders a few weeks ago. As reported then, a maximum of 15 million shares, or 3.6 percent of the outstanding shares, and a maximum cash amount of €18 million have been ...
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ArticleDelfin shareholders reportedly seek exclusive focus on Essilux investment
A majority of shareholders in the Del Vecchio family holding company Delfin would like Delfin to focus exclusively on its investment in EssilorLuxottica and dispose of non-core investments in financial companies, according to a report in the Italian financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Delfin is the largest investor in ...
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News briefs
Bausch + Lomb announces refinancing plans update
Bausch+Lomb Netherlands B.V. and Bausch & Lomb Incorporated have increased the size of their senior secured floating rate notes due 2031 from the initially planned aggregate of €600 million to €675 million, the group has announced. The notes will be sold to investors at a price of 99.5 percent of ...
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News briefs
Google reportedly planning to invest $100m in Gentle Monster
Google is about to invest 145.9 billion Korean won ($100m) in iiCombined, the mother company of South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster, according to a press report by The Korea Economic News Daily. Both companies are reportedly in the final negotiation stages for a deal that would give Google a ...
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News briefs
Conant invests in Japan production to mitigate US tariffs exposure
Shanghai Conant Optical is planning to invest $54 million in the building of a new automated RX lens production line in Japan through its Asahi-Lite subsidiary, the group said in a statement last month. The new facility will focus on the production and sales of high-end customized lenses and will ...
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News briefs
Vuzix secures Quanta investment second tranche
Vuzix has announced that it has received the $5 million tranche investment from Taiwanese-based tech group Quanta Computer, bringing its total investment to date to $15 million. As reported then, Quanta and Vuzix announced a $20 million partnership in September last year, with an initial $10 million investment and two ...
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ArticleDEG takes over MENRAD’s house brand and three license deals
Design Eyewear Group is acquiring the MENRAD brand as part of the German eyewear group’s “unfortunate insolvency,” announced at the end of last month. The Danish-based group is also taking over three license agreements that MENRAD had with the Jaguar, JOOP! and Morgan brands. The four brands, for ...
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News briefs
Lenskart prepares for IPO
Indian-based optical retailer Lenskart changed its registered name from Lenskart Solutions Private Limited to Lenskart Solutions Limited on May 30 during a special board meeting. According to several Indian business news outlets, the official name change will allow the company to launch its initial public offering. However, no detailed schedule ...
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News briefs
EssilorLuxottica issues €1bn bond
EssilorLuxottica successfully launched a bond issuance for €1 billion yesterday, with the order book peaking at €2.5 billion and attracting quality institutional investors, the group said. The bond, which will mature in January 2030, carries a coupon of 2.625 percent with a yield of 2.76 percent. The group said that ...
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ArticleAerial Vision invests in 'plug-and-play' eyewear e-commerce startup
GoHub, an Israeli-based tech startup aiming to open the online optical market to more retail players, is joining forces with AVI. The tech-and-logistics partnership is boosting GoHub’s offering and reach.
