GrandVision: EssilorLuxottica to Buy 76.72% Stake for EUR28 a Share

By Ian Walker

Grandvision NV (GVNV.AE) said Wednesday that is supports EssilorLuxottica SA's (EL.FR) acquisition of a 76.72% interest in the company for 28 euros ($31.23) a share.

The Franco-Italian company will acquire the stake from HAL Trust (HAL.AE), with the deal implying a value of EUR7.12 billion ($7.92 billion) for the whole of Grandvision.

Earlier this month HAL Trust said it was in talks to sell its majority stake in the Dutch optical retailer to EssilorLuxottica. The offer price is a 33% premium to GrandVision's closing share price of EUR21.04.

On Wednesday the companies said that if the deal doesn't complete within 12 months then the price would increase to EUR28.42 a share.

"This transaction is expected to provide value to GrandVision's shareholders, while allowing for the acceleration of GrandVision's growth strategy through the expansion of our store network and online platforms," GrandVision CEO Stephan Borchert said.

Separately GrandVision reported a 40% fall in pretax profit for the first half of the year.

For the half year ended June 30 GrandVision made a net profit of EUR64 million compared with EUR106 million for the same period in 2018, on revenue that rose 6.5% to EUR2 billion.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization--the company's preferred metric which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--was EUR297 million compared with EUR293 million for the half year ended June 30, 2018.

GrandVision said that it expects Ebitda for the second half to benefit from lower incremental investments and operating leverage within the existing business. It therefore expects Ebitda growth for the full year to be broadly in line with mid-term guidance.

GrandVision had 7,265 stores at the end of June, compared with 7,216 at the end of March, driven by store openings and acquisitions.

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail]; @IanWalk40289749

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 31, 2019 01:54 ET (05:54 GMT)

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