Due to competition concerns, the EU Commission had approved the takeover of GrandVision by EssilorLuxottica only on condition that the company reduce its presence in numerous markets in Europe by selling branches. It complied, selling branches in Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands during December.
Store sales in Italy …
In mid-December, EssilorLuxottica and Grandvision NV announced the sale of numerous branches in Italy to the Italian optical group Vision Group. The latter is taking over the VistaSì retail chain, which previously belonged to EssilorLuxottica, including the brand rights and all 99 stores in Italy. It is also acquiring 75 Italian stores from Grandvision. The agreement, it said, provides for transitional arrangements to ensure business continuity of the divested businesses after the transaction is completed.
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… in Belgium and the Netherlands
On Dec. 24, EssilorLuxottica and Grandvision announced the sale of Dutch and Belgian stores to Optic Retail International Group BENE (ORIG). The eyewear suppliers parted with 142 Eyewish stores in the Netherlands and 35 GrandOptical stores in Belgium. Optic Retail International Group is a company of the Austrian eyewear manufacturer MPG Austria.
Eye Wish Opticiens The Netherlands – 142 shops sold to Optic Retail International Group (Image: GrandVision)
The agreement between EssilorLuxottica, GrandVision and ORIG/MPG also provides for transitional arrangements to ensure business continuity. The closing of this transaction is still subject to the approval of the European Commission under the commitments procedure and is expected in the first quarter of 2022, he said.
Shareholding in GrandVision increased
In addition, the EssilorLuxottica Group increased its shareholding in GrandVision to more than 95 percent by means of a mandatory share offer and intends to delist the shares from Euronext Amsterdam as soon as possible in accordance with applicable regulations. Accordingly, the last trading day of the shares on Euronext Amsterdam would be January 7, 2022, and listing and trading of the shares would cease on January 10, 2022.
Under the offer, 33,225,412 shares had been offered, representing a stake of approximately 13.06% and a total value of approximately 944,266,209 euros. Including the 220,537,421 shares already held by EssilorLuxottica at the time of the offer, the total would now be 253,762,833 shares, representing approximately 99.73% of the issued share capital of GrandVision.
