Ray-Ban maker pays Dh32bn for Vision Express owner

Franco-Italian company EssilorLuxottica said it will pay at least €28a share for investment firm HAL’s approximately 77 per cent stake in GrandVision

Ray-Ban sunglasses. Brand owner EssilorLuxottica agreed to buy out Vision Express owner GrandVision.

EssilorLuxottica agreed to buy GrandVision in a deal that values the smaller Dutch eyecare retailer at as much as €7.3 billion (Dh32.6bn) and brings the Ray-Ban sunglasses brand and Vision Express prescription centres under the same roof.

The Franco-Italian company said it will pay at least €28 a share for investment firm HAL’s approximately 77 per cent stake. HAL is controlled by the Dutch billionaire Van der Vorm family. Following the completion of the deal, EssilorLuxottica will be obliged to make an offer for the rest of GrandVision’s shares.

The price represents a 33 per cent premium to GrandVision’s closing price on July 16, the day before Bloomberg reported that the companies were in talks. GrandVision shares have been traded in Amsterdam since its initial public offering, which valued the company at about €5bn.

EssilorLuxottica, the owner of Lenscrafters and Pearle Vision in the US, is trying to solidify its global dominance by adding GrandVision’s network of European eyewear chains. The acquisition would add more than 7,000 stores, selling lower-priced eyewearthrough chains such as Brilleland and For Eyes in more than 40 countries. The companies are preparing to face off the low-cost upstart internet competitors that threaten to disrupt the industry, Luca Solca, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, has said.

EssilorLuxottica shares rose as much as 4.3 per cent in Paris, while GrandVision shares gainedas much as 5.4 per cent in Amsterdam.

The deal was announced as EssilorLuxottica reported first-half earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. The company also said the offer price will increase to €28.42 a share if the acquisition doesn’t close within 12 months. Completion is expected in 12 to 24 months.

The Franco-Italian company said it has bridge financing of €8bn for the deal, and later plans a €2bn refinancing through debt and equity. EssilorLuxottica’s stable of luxury licenses including Armani and Prada allow the company to transform plastic sunglasses into a high-end staple. The company would expand its retail network with GrandVision, aiming to use those stores to help sell Essilor lens products

GrandVision executives said the Dutch company will avoid any larger mergers and acquisitions that could threaten getting antitrust approval. The deal is contingent on GrandVision keeping net debt below €993 million. The company’s net borrowings were €867m at the end of the first half.

The move comes only weeks after EssilorLuxottica defused a leadership dispute that weighed on its shares. The company, formed through the merger of France’s Essilor and Italy’s Luxottica, said in May that it would seek a new chief executive officer - an effort to find a compromise between chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio and vice chairman Hubert Sagnieres.

Their dispute flared up after the companies sealed their merger last year, with Mr Del Vecchio saying he wanted to appoint his deputy as CEO and Mr Sagnieres countering that the Italian was making false statements in an effort to seize control of the group.

Mr Del Vecchio is EssilorLuxottica’s biggest shareholder with a 32 per cent stake. Born in 1935, he founded Luxottica in 1961 with a handful of workers and transformed his business into a global giant through a multitude of acquisitions.

Citigroup advised EssilorLuxottica, while GrandVision is working with ING Groep.