Here’s a summer-y deal, a piece of M&A for the outdoorsy crowd – the snowboarders, sailers and skiers among you: Luxottica, the Italian eyewear firm best known for its Ray-Ban, Prada and Chanel sunglasses, has agreed to buy its California-based rival Oakley for $2.1bn, or $29.30 per share.
Oakley owns the Oliver Peoples brand, and also makes Paul Smith spectacles and sunglasses. It operates four retail chains– mainly in the US — and has interests in protective eyewear. Earlier this year it bought Eyewear Safety Systems, which supplies protective glasses to police forces and the military.
There has been speculation that Nike might have stepped in to buy Oakley. But the deal with Luxottica means a big pay day for Jim Jannard, Oakley’s chairman, who started the business out of his garage with $300 in 1975. He still owns 63 per cent of the business.
Oakley recently came out with a range of mp3 sunglasses called “Thump” — available in 512mb, 256mb and 1G versions, allowing wearers to upload music directly into their glasses.
Which doesn’t sound very Italian at all.