{"id":3024,"date":"2014-02-27T02:13:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T10:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=3024"},"modified":"2014-02-27T02:13:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T10:13:26","slug":"clearlycontacts-operator-coastal-com-being-bought-for-445m-by-frances-essilor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/02\/27\/clearlycontacts-operator-coastal-com-being-bought-for-445m-by-frances-essilor\/","title":{"rendered":"ClearlyContacts operator Coastal.com being bought for $445M by France&#8217;s Essilor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>VANCOUVER<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u2014<\/span>Online optical company Coastal.com (TSX:COA) is being sold to France-based Essilor International for $445 million.<\/p>\n<p>The Vancouver-based company, operator of such websites as ClearlyContacts.com among others, says Essilor has offered $12.45 per share in cash for all of its shares.<\/p>\n<p>It says the offer represents a premium of 43 per cent over the company&#8217;s three-month, volume-weighted average price of $8.73 and 84 per cent over its six-month, volume-weighted average price of $6.78.<\/p>\n<p>The Coastal.com board says it has unanimously approved the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, including shareholder and regulatory approvals.<\/p>\n<p>If all goes well, the deal is expected to close within 90 days.<\/p>\n<p>Coastal.com founder and CEO Roger Hardy praised Essilor as a company that shares Coastal.com&#8217;s &#8220;focus on customers, innovation and growth.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The combination will enhance Coastal.com&#8217;s ability to achieve its goals while realizing a significant all-cash premium for our shareholders,&#8221; Hardy said. &#8220;I am confident this merger is the right decision for Coastal.com, our employees and our shareholders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Essilor chairman and CEO Hubert Sagnieres, in explaining the reasons behind the purchase, said &#8220;the Internet has an important role to play in helping us to fulfil our corporate mission of enabling people to enjoy a better life through better sight.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With Coastal.com, Essilor is acquiring a recognized online vision care platform.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Coastal Contacts Inc. is an online direct-to-consumer retailer of contact lenses, eyeglasses, sunglasses and vision care accessories serving more than 10 markets around the world, including Canada, the United States, Sweden, Norway and Japan.<\/p>\n<p>Essilor International SA is a France-based ophthalmic optics company whose brands include Varilux, Crizal, Kodak and Foster Grant among others.<\/p>\n<p>It also develops and sells equipment for prescription laboratories as well as instruments and services designed for optical professionals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VANCOUVER\u2014Online optical company Coastal.com (TSX:COA) is being sold to France-based Essilor International for $445 million. The Vancouver-based company, operator of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3024\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}