Chris Bennett: Luxottica has minerals to take on competition

Sitting sipping coffee in a German cafe surrounded by the international optical press corps seems an appropriate setting for a discussion on optical globalisation.

My Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese, Hungarian and Swedish colleagues are digesting the news that Luxottica has gobbled up Italian mineral glass sun lens specialist Barberini.

Business is business and globalisation is a fact, and while the deal should bring benefits to consumers, there were rumblings among the group about the influence of such a powerful group.

An Italian counterpart seemed sanguine about the move, those based in northern Europe were less keen and frustrated by the reaction from their local opticians, where practices want Ray-Ban in the window to pull in the punters.