Japanese contact lens maker SEED has bought Bedfordshire-based specialist contact lens maker Contact Lens Precision Laboratories Ltd (CLPL).
CLPL produces specialty and custom lenses for 40 different countries around the world and has been in the UK market for 50 years. Following the deal CLPL will become a subsidiary of the SEED which is a mainstream soft contact lens maker in its home market of Japan. It currently serves several overseas markets and the acquisition is likely to see it make renewed efforts to break into the UK and Irish soft contact lens markets.
A statement from the firm said SEED would be looking to develop products using the specialist contact lens technologies developed by CLPL under its UltraVision and Kerasoft brands. It is expected that CLPL will benefit from the mass production technologies and market access of its new parent SEED. In its home market SEED is a mainstream supplier of daily disposable contact lenses. It has worked with practices in the UK to sell its soft daily disposable products but only on a trial basis.
A statement following the announcement of the acquisition said: ‘SEED and CLPL will shortly establish a “100 days Committee”, to further enhance a strong and mutually beneficial business collaboration and also form concrete action plans for each relevant area of business. Diane Angell and John Clamp, Joint Chief Executive Officers of CLPL and UltraVision respectively, will continue as Joint CEO of CLPL and UltraVision after CLPL becomes a subsidiary of SEED. Both CEOs will continue to leverage their expertise as manufacturers of custom and specialty lenses, to ultimately expand the joint businesses. SEED will in turn send a number of non-executive directors to CLPL and UltraVision and exchange junior engineers with UltraVision’.