Posted Oct 3, 2022 12:47 PM
Importance at Kering. The luxury giant announced on Monday that it owns “more than 90%” of the American eyewear manufacturer Maui Jim, which will enrich Kering Eyewear’s brand portfolio. The operation was announced in March.
“The acquisition of the remaining capital should take place by the end of 2022” but the group will be consolidated in its accounts “from October 1” of this year, specifies a press release. On March 14, Kering Eyewear announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire the “largest independent brand of sunglasses in the world”, founded in 1987 in Hawaii, without revealing the amount of the operation.
Growth levers
Maui Jim, whose annual turnover is estimated at between 300 and 350 million euros, has developed a range of high-end sunglasses and optical frames sold in more than 100 countries and employs around a thousand people worldwide. Its headquarters are located in Peoria, Illinois.
A few months earlier, Kering had bought the Danish Lindberg, also integrated into Kering Eyewear. The entity created in 2014 and dedicated to the eyewear activity of its brands, designs and distributes eyewear for its portfolio of now 17 brands (Lindberg, Gucci, Cartier, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Chloé, Alexander McQueen, Montblanc , Brioni, Dunhill, Boucheron, Pomellato, Alaïa, McQ, Puma and Maui Jim).
In the medium term, Kering Eyewear’s turnover should almost triple to reach 2 billion euros, the French group had fixed last June during a presentation to investors. The eyewear division and Yves Saint-Laurent are the two growth levers identified by Kering to offset the slowdown in growth of its star brand, Gucci.
With AFP
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