All M&A articles – Page 10
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ArticleVam Investments buys 80% of Demenego
The Milan-based private equity Vam Investments has bought an 80 percent stake in Demenego, an Italian eyewear producer which also manages 16 points of sale. The De Menego family will retain a 20 percent interest in the company, which posted sales of €23 million in 2019 and an Ebitda of ...
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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 ...
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News briefsWalmart sells Asda to a group of investors
The American retailer Walmart has agreed to sell a majority stake in Asda, its British chain of supermarkets, to a group of investors comprising the brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and TDR Capital. The deal values Asda £6.8 billion (€7.5bn-$8.8bn). Walmart will keep a minority stake in Asda. The deal ...
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News briefs
Safilo completes sale of Martignacco site
Safilo has completed the sale of a factory in Martignacco, situated in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, to iVision Tech, a unit of iVision Group, an Italian concern with activities spreading from software to face masks. No financial details were released. The facility will be reconverted to manufacture ...
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ArticleKKR buys 1-800 Contacts
The investment firm KKR has agreed to buy 1-800 Contacts, the American online retailer of contact lenses, from AEA Investors, which acquired the company in January 2016. No financial details were disclosed but the news agency Reuters cited an unnamed source indicating that the deal was worth more than $3 ...
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ArticleU.S. delays TikTok ban to Sept. 27 as Trump gives blessing to deal with Oracle, Walmart
The U.S. Department of Commerce said that it has delayed until Sept. 27 the prohibition of the Chinese mobile application TikTok. The department had previously announced that the ban would start today. The decision comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had given his “blessing” to a proposed deal ...
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News briefs
Club OpticLibre expands in Belgium
Club OpticLibre, the French voluntary group of opticians, has reached an agreement to take over its Belgian peer Obos. The French company represents some 1,500 stores, 100 of which are in Belgium. With the tie-up, the network will exceed 1,700 locations and the firm aims to have sales of more ...
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News briefs
MetLife buys Davis Vision, Superior Vision
The US financial services firm MetLife has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Versant Health from an investor group led by Centerbridge Partners for $1.675 billion in an all-cash transaction. Versant Health owns the managed vision care brands Davis Vision and Superior Vision. Following the acquisition, MetLife will gain ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica ready to pursue lawsuit against GrandVision after losing first round
Yesterday, a Dutch district court rejected EssilorLuxottica’s request to obtain information from GrandVision to determine whether the Dutch retailer had breached the terms an agreement in view of its takeover by Essilux. The court said that the large volume of corporate information that Essilux is seeking to obtain without specific ...
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News briefs
Bayfields Opticians continues U.K. expansion
Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists has acquired three independent optical practices as it continues to expand in the U.K. It bought Gohil and Grey in Leamington Spa, Pendleburys in Maidstone, and Cooper & Leatherbarrow in Barnard Castle. The move comes after the fund BGF invested in Bayfields in March, just before ...
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News briefs
CooperVision buys orthokeratology contact lens firm GP Specialists
CooperVision has acquired GP Specialists, a Californian manufacturer and distributor of customized orthokeratology contact lens. CooperVision said that the move further expands its Specialty EyeCare business and its offer to address the increasing severity and prevalence of myopia. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Steve Wagner, GP Specialists’ former ...
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ArticleABG, SPARC picked to buy Brooks Brothers for $325 million
The iconic American apparel group Brooks Brothers has selected Authentic Brands Group (ABG) and its partially owned retail unit SPARC as the winning bidders of a competitive sale process after they increased their offer to $325 million for the vast majority of the company’s global business operations as a going ...
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ArticleGrandVision starts arbitration proceedings against EssilorLuxottica
GrandVision has initiated arbitration proceedings against EssilorLuxottica’s claims that the Dutch retailer had breached its obligations under the co-called “Support Agreement” in managing its business during the Covid-19 pandemic. GrandVision reiterated that it strongly disagrees with EssilorLuxottica’s accusations. It added that it has initiated the arbitration to obtain confirmation that ...
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ArticleEU suspends deadline for probe into Essilux’s takeover of GrandVision
The European Commission has suspended the deadline for the end of an in-depth investigation into EssilorLuxottica’s proposed €7.2 billion takeover of GrandVision, according to a filing on its website. The commission has repeatedly postponed the deadline. The last one being August 27. The proposed deal, referred to as case M.9569, ...
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ArticleEssilorLuxottica sues GrandVision over Covid-19 disclosure
EssilorLuxottica has initiated legal proceedings before a district court in Rotterdam to obtain information from GrandVision regarding the management of its business during the Covid-19 pandemic and the extent to which it has allegedly ”breached its obligations under the support agreement.” The Franco-Italian eyewear company, which made a €7.2 ...
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Article
Antares eyes distressed Italian fashion assets
Italian private equity and debt-management group Antares is launching a new fund targeting investments among the country’s small and mid-sized financially-struggling fashion companies, whose ranks have grown with the Covid-19 pandemic. Antares has already raised €50 million in fresh cash for its “luxury and lifestyle” turnaround fund, largely with Italian ...
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ArticleEU may ask Essilux to sell stores in GrandVision deal
The European Commission may ask EssilorLuxottica to sell stores in Italy and another EU country, either France or the Netherlands, to secure its planned 7.2 billion euro acquisition of GrandVision, according to the newspaper Financial Times. But the company has not yet committed to selling shops as it argues that ...
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News briefsGoogle snaps up smart glass group North
U.S. tech giant Google has acquired Canadian smart glasses producer North for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2012 and originally called Thalmic Labs, North initially focused on new forms of interaction with Myo, a gesture-based input device that directly coupled neuro-muscular impulses into signals computers could understand. It then shifted ...
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Article
Italian components group Margot looks to grow
Margot, an Italian group that makes metallic components for luxury leather goods, shoes and eyewear that is controlled by the private equity Mandarin Capital Partners, is looking to expand with an acquisition in the third or fourth quarter of this year, says Andrea Tuccio, a partner with Mandarin. The aim ...
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News briefs
EU may express concern about EssilorLuxottica purchase of GrandVision
The European Commission may stress that the planned takeover of GrandVision by EssilorLuxottica could harm competition, the news agency Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The commission is expected to send a statement of objections outlining its doubts in a move to prompt the companies to offer remedies. ...
