In a presentation to the European Sunglass Association at Silmo'09, Tom Puckett, of family-owned US investment bank Puckett & Co, explored a topic which (to judge from ESA members' reactions) evoked strong interest, as much from major-company representatives as from proprietors of smaller businesses: optical industry consolidation. Over the last decade and a half in the USA, Mr Puckett estimated, more than half of all pre-existing laboratories have been acquired by one of a handful of multinationals, Essilor pre-eminent among them. The trend looks set to continue. Puckett & Co should know; with family insider knowledge of the prescription lab sector and an in-depth portfolio as specialist advisers to independents either seeking to sell or targeted for acquisition, the firm has attained a strong position to chart the seemingly unstoppable progress of US consolidation in recent years, currently extending its scope into Europe.
展开▼
