Family-owned Danish luxury eyewear brand acquired by Kering luxury group

 

 

Kering acquires family-owned Danish luxury eyewear company.

Kering Eyewear acquires the Danish luxury eyewear brand Lindberg, a family-owned Danish eyewear company, renowned and awarded for its exceptional titanium optical frames, design, innovative and patented technology and impeccable craftsmanship.

According to Kering luxury group, the high-end brand has a unique positioning and solid growth prospects.

Kering Eyewear and the Lindberg family have signed an agreement for Kering Eyewear to acquire 100% of the share capital of LINDBERG. Kering Eyewear is part of the Kering Group, a global Luxury group that develops an ensemble of luxury houses in fashion, leather goods, jewellery and watches. Today, Kering Eyewear designs, develops and distributes eyewear for a portfolio of 15 brands: Gucci, Cartier, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Chloé, Alexander McQueen, Montblanc, Brioni, Dunhill, Boucheron, Pomellato, Alaïa, McQ and Puma.

Founded in 1969 in Denmark by optician Poul-Jørn Lindberg and his wife as an optical store and turned into a multinational company by their son Henrik, LINDBERG is a high-end manufacturer of design-oriented, lightweight, and customizable optical frames with a specialization in titanium. The company’s reputation has been built on its made-to-order capabilities, offering customers the possibility to create their very own bespoke pair of LINDBERG glasses through an extended modular system which contains billions of combinations, in a wide array of materials from titanium to acetate, buffalo horn, wood or precious metals. LINDBERG has developed and patented manufacturing techniques and innovations such as hypoallergenic, multi-adjustable and screwless frames that are key differentiating factors in the high-end eyewear market. As a pioneer, LINDBERG holds a unique positioning in the luxury eyewear industry, resulting in a powerful combination of a sizeable and very profitable company with strong growth potential.

This acquisition is an important milestone in the successful expansion of Kering Eyewear and fits with its development strategy. Since its start in 2014, Kering Eyewear has built an innovative business model that enabled the company to reach a critical size in the market with close to €600 million wholesale external revenues pre-Covid (FY2019). This acquisition will further reinforce Kering Eyewear as the most relevant player in the luxury eyewear market segment, adding to its portfolio a complementary and proprietary brand with strong legitimacy, undisputed know-how and best-in-class customer service in optical frames.

Thanks to their business complementarities, both companies will be able to leverage on their respective strengths across the value chain, with synergies in distribution and geographical reach notably. This will contribute to accelerate the growth and enhance the profitability of Kering Eyewear.

“We are thrilled to welcome LINDBERG into the Kering Eyewear family. I have the highest respect and admiration for what Henrik Lindberg and his family have built over the past 35 years. LINDBERG is the absolute luxury eyewear and it will come as a perfect complement to the brand portfolio that Kering Eyewear has been assembling since 2014, making it even more relevant to our specialized distribution network. We look forward to working with the LINDBERG teams to further increase their brand awareness and amplify their international reach.” – Roberto Vedovotto, President and CEO of Kering Eyewear.

 “35 years ago we started our company in two small back rooms behind our family optical store. With nothing more than the idea of bringing unseen comfortability and quality to the eyewear business. Thanks to a team of dedicated employees, we can now —in Roberto Vedovotto’s own words— call ourselves makers of “absolute luxury eyewear”. Kering and LINDBERG share a common philosophy that design is ultimately about taking eyewear to an even higher level. That is why the Lindberg family are extremely happy to be able to pass the torch on to Kering Eyewear. Under Roberto Vedovotto’s leadership and backed by the impressive values and high standards of the Kering Group, I am convinced that the LINDBERG brand will be taken to new heights and the key values and the unique DNA kept.” – Henrik Lindberg, Founder and CEO of LINDBERG.

The transaction is subject to the clearance by the relevant competition authorities and is expected to complete in the second half of 2021.