Luxottica in deal to buy France's Alain Mikli

MILAN - Italy's Luxottica, the world's biggest premium eyewear maker, has agreed to buy the whole of French luxury eyewear designer Alain Mikli as it seeks acquisitions to boost growth.

In a statement on Friday Luxottica said that it had entered an exclusivity agreement with its rival and London-based investment firm NEO Capital to buy the French company but gave no financial details.

In 2011 Alain Mikli posted net sales of about 60 million euros ($77.62 million).

Luxottica Chief Executive Andrea Guerra recently said the group was studying several possible acquisitions, one of which was domestic eyewear retailer Salmoiraghi & Vigano.

Luxottica, which makes Ray-Bans as well as sunglasses for luxury brands such as Prada and Gucci, has said it expects profits to grow twice as fast as sales this year. It expects sales to rise by a high single-digit percentage.

In 2011 it posted net sales of more than 6.2 billion euros.

Luxottica said the acquisition of Alain Mikli would significantly strengthen its luxury brand portfolio. ($1 = 0.7730 euros)