Thélios, the eyewear unit owned by LVMH Group, has agreed to acquire American eyewear brand Barton Perreira, as the French firm looks to extend its reach further into luxury accessories.
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The deal values the Los Angeles-based Barton Perreira at about USD 80 million and the plan is to expand the brand outside the U.S., according to a Wall Street Journal report. LVMH intends to sell Barton Perreira frames in stores it already has partnerships with in Europe and Asia and also aims to open a number of stand-alone stores for the brand, with the first opening in Europe, sources told the WSJ.
The report was confirmed by AFP, with Thélios adding that the deal would close in a matter of weeks.
Thélios was created by LVMH and Italian eyewear manufacturer Marcolin in 2017, before being fully bought out by LVMH at the end of 2021; the first hint that the Parisian luxury conglomerate LVMH was starting to home in on eyewear to bolster revenues globally in the coming years.
LVMH’s Barton Perreira acquisition comes two months after Thélios acquired French eyewear brand Vuarnet from British investment fund, NEO Investment Partners, marking its first acquisition as its own entity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In its most recent trading, LVMH reported organic sales inched forward just 1 percent for the three months ending September 30, to EUR 19.96 billion (USD 21.17 billion).
While organic revenues in Asia excluding Japan were up 11 percent in the third quarter, figures reflected a slowdown from the 34 percent jump in the prior three months, reflecting a more challenging comparison basis and a recovery in Chinese tourism outside of Asia.
Revenues in Japan remained strong, up 30 percent in the third quarter, after a rise of 29 percent in the second quarter.