EssilorLuxottica Signs New Acquisition Agreement

MILAN — EssilorLuxottica continues to invest in the med-tech segment.

On Tuesday, the eyewear giant revealed it has signed an agreement to acquire the Italy-based Espansione Group, which specializes in the design and manufacturing of noninvasive medical devices, protected by international patents for the diagnosis and treatment of dry-eye, ocular surface and retinal diseases.

Francesco Milleri, chairman and chief executive officer of EssilorLuxottica, said “this investment, proudly made in one of our home countries, will expand our portfolio of medical devices and solidify our role in the optical industry.”

The group’s “med-tech journey, aimed at elevating vision health standards, will continue to be an open and collaborative one, where our products and services are accessible to all industry players,” Milleri added.

The acquisition advances EssilorLuxottica’s med-tech strategy and follows the deal, revealed in July, to acquire an 80 percent stake in Heidelberg Engineering, a German company that is a specialist in diagnostic solutions, digital surgical technologies and health care IT for clinical ophthalmology.

Espansione Group delivers the highest medical standards in more than 40 countries, stated EssilorLuxottica, which is on an acquisition spree. In July it also agreed to take over Supreme from VF Corp. for $1.5 billion in cash.

In September, EssilorLuxottica extended its partnership with Meta Platforms with the aim of building on the success of its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses to develop the next generation of smart eyewear products.

The two companies initially joined forces in 2019 and said they have entered a new long-term agreement.

Also, Luxottica unveiled its new Nuance Audio brand, a convergence of eyewear and hearing aid devices, first introduced in early January at CES in Las Vegas and at Mido a month later.

A little less than two years in the making since the firm established the dedicated Super Audio division in the summer of 2022 and finalized the acquisition six months later of Israeli company Nuance Hearing, Nuance Audio offers eyewear with integrated high-tech hearing technology poised to offer a valid and better-looking alternative to hearing aid devices. Designed to be invisible with technology integrated throughout the acetate frames, as comfortable as any pair of glasses, and easy to set up (configuration takes less than two minutes), Nuance Audio frames are geared at people in their 50s and 60s suffering from mild to moderate hearing loss. 

This has been a busy year for EssilorLuxottica, which saw the debut of collections for Brunello Cucinelli, Jimmy Choo and Ferrari, Moncler’s new Lunettes collection in September, an Alain Mikli relaunch and an Oliver Peoples four-collection collaboration with Roger Federer. 

Established in 2018 by the merger of France’s Essilor and Italy’s Luxottica Group, in addition to its proprietary brands, from Ray-Ban to Oakley and Persol, the group produces eyewear under license for brands ranging from Giorgio Armani and Prada to Tiffany & Co. and Versace.

EssilorLuxottica, which is publicly traded on Euronext Paris, in the first nine months of the year reported revenues of 19.7 billion euros, up 3 percent compared with the same period in 2023.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}