The US may be closed, but nothing stands in the way of merger Monday, which today struck in Europe with the announcement that Italy’s Ray-Ban maker, Luxottica, and France’s lens company Essilor agreed to a €46 billion ($49 billion) merger to create a global eyewear giant with annual revenue of more than €15 billion.
The deal, one of Europe’s largest cross-border tie-ups, brings together Luxottica, the world’s top spectacles maker with brands such as Oakley and Ray-Ban, with Essilor, the world’s leading manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses.