“EssilorLuxottica no longer wants GrandVision”

(Update) French-Italian manufacturer and designer of glasses EssilorLuxottica seems to no longer be interested in buying GrandVision, the mother company of Eyewish and Pearl. But the company firmly denies these rumours.

More sales online

Last year, EssilorLuxottica and HAL signed a deal worth 7.3 billion euros to take over the majority stake of GrandVision’s investor. However, since the outbreak of the coronavirus, there are more and more signs that the French-Italian group wants to get out of the deal.

Initially, EssilorLuxottica was worried about the way GrandVision was handling the crisis. The French and Italians even demanded access to the books, which got refused by the Dutch company. It ended up in a court case in August, during which the judge made an interim injunction in GrandVision’s favour.

Fine of 400 million euros

According to Bloomberg, EssilorLuxottica is now considering blowing up the deal completely. The group seems to be particularly concerned about the impact of the crisis on GrandVision’s turnover. In addition, EssilorLuxottica’s own sales in physicals stores have plummeted over the past nine months, while online revenues increased by forty per cent. As a result, the French-Italian tandem is not too keen on taking over around 7,000 GrandVision stores.

Update: Yet the glasses manufacturer now denies wanting to escape the takeover, according to De Telegraaf. Every effort is even being made to complete the takeover, according to a spokesman: “EssilorLuxottica remains committed to completing the transaction.”

If EssilorLuxottica terminates the agreement, the company will have to pay a fine of 400 million euros to the investment company, reports Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant. It is, of course, also plausible for both parties to come to a new agreement, in which the price will be reconsidered. For the time being, none of the companies wishes to comment on the reports, although GrandVision says to still stand behind the deal.