Essilor — a massive eyeglasses manufacturer based in France that hosts its U.S. headquarters in Dallas — announced a merger with Luxottica (NYSE: LUX), the company that manufactures popular sunglasses brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley, in a deal valued at $24 billion.
The merger would create a company, which will be renamed EssilorLuxottica, that earned $16 billion in 2016 revenue, according to the companies' filings last year. The merger is not thought to affect business in North Texas, the company said in a statement to the Dallas Business Journal.
"There will be no change in the headquarter operations of Essilor in the coming months and while the transaction is being completed," said Eric Leonard, Essilor of America president. "It’s business as usual — which means focusing on the growth of our customers across the U.S."
Just under half of Essilor's $7.5 billion in revenue last year came in North America. The eyeglasses and sunglasses market is a huge one – as Leonard has previously told the Dallas Business Journal, it's a $37 billion market.
Luxottica trades on the New York Stock Exchange, and saw it's stock increase more than 8 percent Tuesday. The nature of this deal, a foreign company acquiring an Italian one, is the largest Bloomberg has ever recorded.
