Sam Brusco, Associate Editor03.26.21
EssilorLuxottica entered an agreement to acquire U.S.-based lab network Walman, a leading partner to vision care practices around the country for over 100 years. The firms’s investment in Walman will allow customers to leverage existing and future opportunities to grow the market in progressive lens and anti-reflective categories, as well as developing solutions like Myopia management.
“Walman is a company we’ve admired as a longtime partner—they share EssilorLuxottica’s customer-first sensibility and our relentless pursuit of higher service standards. They also share our history of employee shareholding, which makes them an ideal cultural fit for our family. Walman has cultivated broad recognition and relationship equity and we will invest in the areas that make them such a great partner to the industry,” Francesco Milleri and Paul du Saillant, respectively CEO and Deputy CEO of EssilorLuxottica, told the press.
Walman has a network of 35 facilities across the U.S., including prescription lens-finishing labs and hubs for optical instruments and other vision care products. Walman will continue to serve the market under the Walman brand.
“EssilorLuxottica’s investment in Walman is an important next step for our customers and employees,” Marty Bassett, president and CEO of Walman said. “It was time for Walman to find an investment partner to support its future success. We chose EssilorLuxottica because of our shared values and their proven history of working with independent businesses to accelerate growth while supporting the entrepreneurial spirit and company culture that made each business successful in the first place.”
The transaction is expected to close in the coming months.
“Walman is a company we’ve admired as a longtime partner—they share EssilorLuxottica’s customer-first sensibility and our relentless pursuit of higher service standards. They also share our history of employee shareholding, which makes them an ideal cultural fit for our family. Walman has cultivated broad recognition and relationship equity and we will invest in the areas that make them such a great partner to the industry,” Francesco Milleri and Paul du Saillant, respectively CEO and Deputy CEO of EssilorLuxottica, told the press.
Walman has a network of 35 facilities across the U.S., including prescription lens-finishing labs and hubs for optical instruments and other vision care products. Walman will continue to serve the market under the Walman brand.
“EssilorLuxottica’s investment in Walman is an important next step for our customers and employees,” Marty Bassett, president and CEO of Walman said. “It was time for Walman to find an investment partner to support its future success. We chose EssilorLuxottica because of our shared values and their proven history of working with independent businesses to accelerate growth while supporting the entrepreneurial spirit and company culture that made each business successful in the first place.”
The transaction is expected to close in the coming months.
