Lenskart acquires majority stake in eyewear model Owndays in $400 million deal

India’s Lenskart is shopping for a majority stake in Japan’s Owndays, the 2 companies mentioned, creating one among Asia’s largest on-line retailers of eyewear. The companies didn’t disclose the monetary phrases of the deal, however an individual conversant in the matter mentioned the merger values 32-year enterprise Owndays at $400 million.

The 12-year-old Bengaluru-headquartered startup is shopping for Owndays’ shares from L Catterton, Mitsui and Principal Investments, the 2 companies mentioned. Owndays co-founders Shuji Tanaka and Take Umiyama will proceed to be shareholders and lead the administration group on the Japanese agency.

The deal will lengthen the merged entity’s attain to 13 Asian markets, together with India, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Japan, the 2 mentioned.

“The way in which folks purchase eyewear is altering quickly and at Lenskart it’s our mission to drive this transformation globally. In at present’s age, the shopper needs nice merchandise, nice costs and pleasant experiences on a regular basis. With Owndays we transfer a step nearer to democratizing eyewear,” mentioned Peyush Bansal, co-founder and group chief government of Lenskart, including that he has recognized Shuji-san and Take-san for over 5 years.

The event comes at a time when Lenskart, backed by SoftBank and Premji Make investments, is finalizing a brand new spherical of funding at over $4.5 billion valuation, in keeping with folks conversant in the matter.

Based in 1989, Tokyo-based Owndays designs and manufactures optical eyewear. The corporate operates over 350 retailers throughout Asia in areas together with Japan, Singapore, Australia, India and Hong Kong. It sells over 2.5 million pairs of glasses a 12 months.

The agency, which obtained backing from L Catterton Asia and Mitsui in 2018, by no means disclosed how a lot cash it had raised, however it was in dialog with personal fairness companies Longreach and Navis Capital to promote the enterprise, Bloomberg reported early this month.