Merger of 2 giants

California's Sacramento Bee reported that VSP Vision Care bought eyewear manufacturer Marchon Eyewear, Inc. on Monday "in a deal that combines the nation's largest eye-care benefits provider with one of the world's largest manufacturers of designer eyewear." The $735 million "cash-and-debt" deal creates a $3.3 billion company that substantially adds to VSP Vision Care's designer portfolio.

Marchon makes private-label eyewear for companies such as Calvin Klein, Coach, Michael Kors, Sean John, and Nike, and makes its own eyewear collections, including its Airlock and Flexon lines, Ohio's Business First of Columbus adds. VSP gets Marchon's 50-percent ownership in Eye Designs, a custom interior designer for the optical industry. In addition, VSP's Altair Eyewear brand will become a division of Marchon. And, Marchon's OfficeMate Software Solutions subsidiary, an industry software and technology company, will merge with VSP's Eyefinity, a web-based business-management firm.

Our office in Matthews is a participating provider for VSP network and also have a large collection of the designer brands mentioned above.

New York's Newsday noted that VSP services one in every six Americans with vision-insurance benefits through a network of more than 25,000 doctors, the company said. With more than 55 million members in the United States and Canada, VSP last year had total revenues of $2.6 billion.