Business news : Essilor acquires 50% of lens manufacturer Solar Optical Polycore

Essilor, the world leader in ophthalmic lenses, announced Monday it has acquired a 50% stake in Polycore Optical, a leading global producer of sunglasses, for an undisclosed sum.

Polycore Optical, based in Singapore, has annual sales of approximately € 30 million and employs approximately 2,000 people. The company already supplies Essilor, was founded in 1976.

"The building and industrial tool Polycore will add to existing skills in Essilor sunglasses, localized especially in our BNL Gentex plants in France and the United States," said Hubert Sagnières, CEO of Essilor , said in the statement.

"This new partnership allows us to offer a range of products and wider and more complete solar materials and accelerate the diffusion of performance sunglasses," he added.

This acquisition will also enable Essilor accelerate its development in the field of prescription glasses of white in Indonesia is one of the laboratories Polycore. Less than one in five people in this country are equipped with corrective lenses, this market offers "a very high growth potential."

Polycore, which distributes its drinks in Asia, Europe and the United States, will be consolidated in the accounts of Essilor from July 1. The company has two production plants in Indonesia and Malaysia and three prescription laboratories in Indonesia and the Netherlands.

Essilor reported sales of about 5 billion euros in 2012 and employs approximately 50,700 people. It has 22 factories and more than 400 laboratories and centers edging and mounting.

Source Ouest-Frence.fr