Ray-Ban maker eyes dominance in €46bn merger with Essilor

The owner of Oakley and Ray-Ban sunglasses says he has realised his "dream" to create an eyewear giant through the merger of his company, Luxottica (Milan: LUX.MI - news) , with a French rival.

It was announced early on Monday that Essilor of France would buy the majority 62% stake of Luxottica - owned by Leonardo Del Vecchio and his family - before moving to acquire the rest under takeover rules.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in both firms rose strongly on the news but the agreement is subject to regulatory approval.

Under the terms - agreed by both boards - 81-year old Del Vecchio will run the combined group to be called EssilorLuxottica with Essilor's boss, Hubert Sagnieres, becoming his deputy.

The group would have a combined market value of €46.2bn (£40.5bn) and annual sales worth almost €16bn - with Luxottica's brands contributing almost two-thirds of that total.

Essilor is less consumer-facing - with a focus on designing lenses and manufacture.

Mr Sagnieres said of the proposed tie-up: "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."

Mr Del Vecchio added: "With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) this agreement my dream to create a major global player in the eyewear industry, fully integrated and excellent in all its parts, comes finally true.

"Finally, after fifty years, two products which are naturally complementary, namely frames and lenses, will be designed, manufactured and distributed under the same roof."

The two companies currently employ 140,000 people in total and while Essilor's statement spoke of cost synergies of up to €600m in the medium term, it did not elaborate on the likelihood of future job losses.