Brille24 x EssilorLuxottica

On 11 February 2019, Essilor International, a subsidiary of the EssilorLuxottica group, announced the signature of an agreement on the acquisition of the holding company which owns Brille24, a German e-commerce pioneer.

In the context of its digital strategy, the optics industry giant is strengthening its position in Germany, the world’s 5^th largest market, by completing the acquisition of the online retailer Brille24 which records sales of nearly 25 million Euros. This acquisition will enable the company to accelerate via the development of a “drive-to-store” model giving customers access to state-of-the-art technologies and the expertise provided by independent opticians.

Investors Time For Growth (France) and VCDE (Germany) had previously held a majority stake in the company. A 12 million-Euro share capital increase was carried out in 2012 and, one year ago, the company successfully completed the acquisition of LensSpirit, a company specialised in the distribution of contact lenses via the internet.

The deal, negotiated jointly by teams from ACXIT Capital Partners and PAX Corporate Finance, remains subject to approval from Germany’s competition regulator (Bundeskartellamt).