March 7, 2018
The Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation into the proposed merger between Essilor and Luxottica Group clearing the way for the deal to be finalized soon, according to VMAIL.
The FTC’s decision, which followed a vote to close the investigation, came just hours after the European Union decided to close its investigation of the proposed merger. The proposed merger was cleared without conditions by both regulatory agencies. According to the FTC, the evidence did not support a conclusion that Essilor’s proposed acquisition of Luxottica violates federal antitrust laws.
“FTC staff extensively investigated every plausible theory and used aggressive assumptions to assess the likelihood of competitive harm,” the FTC said in a statement. “The investigation exhaustively examined information provided by a wide and deep swath of market participants, as well as the parties’ own documents and data. Assessing the likely competitive effects of a proposed transaction is a fact-specific exercise that takes into account the current market dynamics, which may be different in the future. Here, however, the evidence did not support a conclusion that Essilor’s proposed acquisition of Luxottica may be substantially to lessen competition in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act.”
The Commission vote to close the investigation and issue the closing statement was 2-0 (FTC File No. 171-0060). To date, the transaction has also been unconditionally approved in Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan.
Essilor and Luxottica issued a joint statement today saying the finalization of the proposed merger is planned for the first part of 2018, after all necessary authorizations are obtained.
