EssilorLuxottica announced Wednesday an agreement with Hal Optical Investments for the sale of HAL’s 76.62 per cent stake in GrandVision N.V., a global leader in optical retail.
Under the Block Trade Agreement, EssilorLuxottica will buy HAL’s shares for a price of Euro 28 per share, to be increased by 1.5% to Euro 28.42 if closing of the transaction does not occur within 12
months from the announcement date.
Closing of the Transaction between EssilorLuxottica and HAL is subject to various conditions, including obtaining antitrust clearance. The Transaction is expected to close in 12 to 24 months. After the Transaction has been successfully concluded, EssilorLuxottica will launch a mandatory cash public offer for all outstanding shares in the Company, in accordance with the applicable Dutch public offer rules.
Leonardo Del Vecchio, Executive Chairman of EssilorLuxottica commented: “Following the creation of EssilorLuxottica, which I strongly pursued, the acquisition of GrandVision represents the realization of a vision that has guided my actions and the growth of Luxottica over all these years. With GrandVision we will be able to develop our retail network, finally extended throughout the geographies, and fully enable our multichannel and digital platforms. We will raise the quality of in-store experience for products, brands and services for the benefit of all consumers and our wholesale customers.”
Stephan Borchert, CEO of GrandVision: “The future integration of GrandVision with EssilorLuxottica brings new opportunities to GrandVision’s business, its well-established retail banners, stores, employees and all our stakeholders. Furthermore, it will create a truly global eyecare and eyewear company that is ideally positioned to capture changing consumer needs and behaviors, and provide its customers with a high quality optical omni-channel customer experience. This transaction is expected to provide value to GrandVision’s shareholders, while allowing for the acceleration of GrandVision’s growth strategy through the expansion of our store network and online platforms. EssilorLuxottica’s interest in joining forces with GrandVision is a clear recognition of GrandVision’s successful strategy, our state-of-the-art retail platform and our people. We look forward to joining forces with EssilorLuxottica in what will be an exciting new chapter ahead.”
