Hal Holding buys majority stake in Fotex

Retail

Hal Holding NV, a unit of Bermuda-based Hal Trust, bought a majority stake in the optical unit of Hungarian retailer Fotex Rt to expand its number of optical retail chains, Napi Gazdaság reported. Hal bought 94.7% of optical retail chain Fotex-Ofotert Kft from Budapest-based Fotex, the two companies said in separate stock exchange statements today. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Hal boosted its stake to 99% in Paris-based optical retailer, Pearle Europe, in January. The company in 2004 completed an initial purchase of French eyeglass retailer, GrandVision SA. Fotex-Ofotert has 102 stores in Hungary, 16 stores in Poland and 12 stores in the Czech Republic, Hal said. The unit had 720 employees at the end of last year and annual revenue of €34 million, it said.

SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL

Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.

Support the BBJ

Industry