Ray-Ban owner Luxottica in £44bn merger with French lenses giant Essilor

Two of the world’s biggest eyewear firms set their sights on a €50 billion (£44 billion) merger today when Ray-Ban owner Luxottica joined French lens-making giant Essilor in one of the largest cross-European deals.

Italy’s Luxottica, which has 80,000 staff and also owns Oakley and Sunglass Hut with licensing deals for Versace glasses, is uniting with opticians’ favourite Essilor.

It is best known for inventing the world’s first varifocal lens, Varilux, in 1959.

The mega-merger ends years of speculation over the future of Luxottica and succession plans of Leonardo Del Vecchio, the firm’s 81-year-old founder and executive chairman, who returned to the helm three years ago and announced he would be dealmaking.

Del Vecchio, a child orphan who spent some of his childhood in a poorhouse, is Italy’s richest man, worth more than €20 billion.

He will become the largest single investor in the merged group, which will have more than 140,000 staff, with a stake of up to 38%, the executive chairman and chief executive posts.

Essilor’s boss Hubert Sagnières will be his deputy.

The €90 billion global glasses industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the world: 1.9 billion people wear spectacles, but analysts suggests 2.5 billion more need corrective lenses.