Billion dollar deal bursts: sale of Apollo-Optik owner before exit

Billion dollar deal bursts
Sale of Apollo-Optik owners before exit

The parent company Grandvision, to which the Apollo Optik chain belongs, should actually go to Essilor-Luxottica. But nothing comes of the deal with the company known for “Ray Ban” glasses: an arbitration tribunal is against it. The share rushes, Grandvision loses half a billion euros in market value.

The € 7.2 billion takeover of the Dutch optics chain Grandvision is about to fail. An arbitration court in the Netherlands surprisingly decided that the Italian-French group Essilor-Luxottica, known for “Ray Ban” glasses, is no longer bound by its purchase offer.

Eyewear billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio.

(Photo: picture alliance / ROPI)

Grandvision, which is represented in Germany with the Apollo Optik chain, has violated several obligations under the purchase agreement, the court found, and thus upheld Essilor-Luxottica’s claim for arbitration. The Dutch, who operate more than 7000 optician branches worldwide, accuse the prospective buyer of only looking for a cheap way out of the takeover. Essilor-Luxottica only stated that they were examining the consequences of the arbitration award.

The group, led by the Italian billionaire Leonardo Del Vecchio, had accused Grandvision of having stopped payments to suppliers and the operators of the branches and applied for state aid during the Corona crisis without consulting him. Stockbrokers assume that the billion-euro transaction will no longer take place – at least not as planned.

Grandvision shares collapse

Grandvision shares collapsed on Tuesday on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange by seven percent to 25.40 euros, the company thus lost half a billion euros in market value. The papers of the major shareholder HAL Trust fell 4.3 percent. KBC analysts do not believe that Essilor-Luxottica will give up the takeover, especially since it makes strategic sense and all cartel approvals are already in place. Rather, Del Vecchio will press for renegotiations.

Meanwhile, Essilor-Luxottica wants to invest in the Apollo-Optik rival Mister Spex. The Berlin-based online optician announced that the eyewear company would subscribe for 50 million euros when it went public. Mister Spex is increasingly competing with the top dogs Fielmann and Apollo with their own branches.

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