Del Vecchio: rags-to-riches-to-mega merger

Milan

BY SEALING one of the biggest European merger deals of recent years, 81-year old spectacles tycoon Leonardo Del Vecchio has added another chapter to one of Italy's most legendary rags-to-riches stories.

The 46-billion euro (S$70 billion) tie-up between Del Vecchio's Luxottica and France's Essilor creates a global powerhouse in the fast-growing 95-billion euro industry, in which the Italian entrepreneur will be the biggest shareholder.

That is some feat for a man who grew up in a Milanese orphanage and learnt metalwork in a tool shop, before creating the world's biggest eyewear maker and becoming Italy's second richest person with a fortune of nearly 19 billion euros.

Insiders say that while the move to combine Luxottica with the world's biggest lens manufacturer makes perfect sense from a strategic point of view, concerns over his own succession are also likely to have guided Mr…