Essilor takes a 50 per cent stake in Shamir Optical

Lens manufacturers Essilor and Shamir Optical have announced an agreement through which Essilor will acquire a 50 per cent stake in the Israeli lens firm, with Shamir's parent company, Kibbutz Shamir retaining the other 50 per cent.

According to a Shamir spokesperson, under the proposed venture Shamir will continue to operate in exactly the same way as before, with the existing Shamir Optical team remaining in place. They explained that Shamir's decision to form a partnership with Essilor was made to 'broaden its worldwide presence and accelerate expansion' and that it would be able to 'benefit from the synergies with Essilor in numerous fields, such as raw materials' procurement and research and design'. The spokesperson added that Shamir would maintain its own R&D programmes and strategy, however in certain specific agreed-upon projects and tasks, the two would 'join forces'.