EssilorLuxottica obtains EU approval for its acquisition of Grand Vision

On Tuesday, eyewear manufacturer EssilorLuxottica received approval from the European Commission for its $8.5 billion (€7.2 billion) acquisition of Dutch optician GrandVision The acquisition is conditional on the sale of more than 350 shops in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

“To address the competition concerns identified by the Commission, EssilorLuxottica has offered to divest part of its retail business (…). The proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, no longer raises competition concerns,” the EU executive said in a statement.

The European Commission said EssilorLuxottica has committed to sell a total of 351 shops in Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium to allay concerns that the deal would lead to price increases for frame retailers and hamper competition.

In Belgium, EssilorLuxottica will sell 35 shops in the GrandOptical chain while retaining the brand.

In Italy, a total of 174 shops, including EssilorLuxottica’s VistaSi chain and 72 GrandVision shops, will be sold.

In the Netherlands, 142 shops of the EyeWish chain will be divested.

“Our in-depth investigation has shown that by increasing its retail market share, EssilorLuxottica could have reduced the access of rival opticians to EssilorLuxottica’s branded eyewear in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands, which would have reduced choice and increased the price of glasses for consumers in those countries,” said Commission Vice-President for Competition Margrethe Vestager.

It should be noted that for its investigation, the Commission gathered the opinion of more than 4,300 opticians in Europe on this operation.

As a reminder, Brussels announced in February 2020 the opening of an in-depth investigation into Essilorluxottica’s takeover of Grand Vision, which operates more than 7,000 shops in some 40 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia.

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