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Italy: Regulator opens Luxottica-Barberini buy probe

By  |  October 7, 2018

The Italian antitrust authority (AGCM) announced it opened a probe into Luxottica’s acquisition of top sunglasses maker Barberini.

Luxottica, the world’s largest spectacles manufacturer, completed this week its merger with France’s Essilor, the biggest lens maker globally.

The Italian group in June announced it had bought Barberini, the world’s top manufacturer of optical glass sun lenses, in a €140 million (US$161 million) deal.

The regulator wrote in a document on its website that EssilorLuxottica and Barberini would control 65-70% of the Italian sunglasses market.

“Barberini’s positioning … leads one to believe that such a concentration could significantly hamper competition … creating or strengthening a dominant position,” it wrote.

Full Content: Euro News

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