The world’s largest glasses maker Luxottica has agreed to a 46 billion euro merger with rival French eye wear firm Essilor to create a global colossus with revenue of more than 15 billion euros, the firms said on Monday. Under the terms of the merger, Luxottica's 81-year old founder, Leonardo Del Vecchio, will take a stake of between 31 and 38 per cent in the combined group through his family holding Delfin, becoming the biggest shareholder in the company. announced a year ago the departure of its third chief executive in 17 months when Adil Mehboob-Khan, a former Procter & Gamble executive, stepped down and Del Vecchio tightened his grip on the group by taking on executive powers. Essilor CEO and chairman Hubert Sagnières says in a statement: "Our project has one simple motivation: to better respond to the needs of an immense global population in vision correction and vision protection by bringing together two great companies, one dedicated to lenses and the other to frames.
Italian eyewear maker Luxottica and French corrective eyewear manufacturer Essilor agree to a €50 billion merger.