Essilor International Expands its Footprint in Europe and Latin America .............

[Chris Ryser]

Press release..................and here is the latest news about expansion


Essilor International Expands its Footprint In Europe and Latin America

Charenton-le-Pont, France (February 11, 2019 – 5.35 p.m.)

– Essilor International, an Essilor Luxottica subsidiary, is actively pursuing its acquisition and partnership strategy with the completion of four transactions worldwide, representing combined full-year revenue of around €48 million. Local partnerships are a key component of Essilor’s mission of “improving lives by improving sight”.

Essilor further strengthens its development strategy in Germany, the fifth largest ophthalmic optics industry in the world1. To speed up the development of a drive-to-store model that gives consumers access to the latest digital technologies combined with the expertise of independent opticians, Essilor signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Brille24 GmbH. The latter is one of the leading online retailers of optical products in Germany With annual revenue of close to €25 million. The acquisition of Brille24 is subject to approval of the German Competition authority (Bundeskartellamt).The Company reinforces its presence in Greece, where Essilor partner Shamir acquired Union Optic, prescription laboratory that also distributes optical instruments. Union Optic generates annual sales of about€9 million and operates four branches across Greece and Cyprus. Union Optics acquisition by Shamir will strengthen the footprint of the Essilor Group in Greece, where Bairamoglou and Unilens are long standing distributors of Essilor lens and Nikon lens, respectively.

Essilor also expands its coverage of Latin America to ensure broader access to its innovations in markets there.Essilor acquired a majority stake in Indulentes, one of the leading prescription laboratories in Ecuador with annual revenue of USD 9 million. Indulentes will leverage Essilor’s technological know-how to accelerate its expansion in a local market that holds huge potential for progressive and anti reflective lenses. This acquisition represents Essilor's first move into Ecuador.

In Argentina, Essilor acquired a majority stake in Metalizado Optico Argentino S.A. (MOA), one of the country’s leading prescription laboratories. Buenos Aires-based MOA generates annual revenue of about USD 7 million.This laboratory adds to Essilor’s industrial assets in a country that is home to 45 million people and one of the Latin America’s largest ophthalmic optics market.

source:
https://www.essilor.com/essilor-cont...Essilor_EN.pdf

[Chris Ryser]

Essilor signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Brille24 GmbH. The latter is one of the leading online retailers of optical products in Germany With annual revenue of close to €25 million. The acquisition of Brille24 is subject to approval of the German Competition authority (Bundeskartellamt).

Obviously they didn't sit back and relax while waiting for the world wide merger approval last year, but continued their usual acquisition searches.

They are doing exactly what they said they were going to do, last year before the merger. Expand the optical online businesses to become the biggest in that sector worldwide, and eventually strangle the independent optical retailer.

[Chris Ryser]

Problematic cases
Under the Act against Restraints of Competition a merger must be prohibited by the Bundeskartellamt if it significantly impedes effective competition. This is in particular the case if the merger is expected to create or strengthen a dominant position.

Effective competition is significantly impeded if with the merger the companies involved gain a scope of action that is no longer sufficiently controlled by competition. This would enable a company to raise its prices, lower product quality, cut back on innovation investments or worsen its offer in any other way without incurring the risk of losing its customers.

See all of it:
https://www.bundeskartellamt.de/EN/M...trol_node.html