AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands—GrandVision BV has formally announced its intention to launch an initial public offering (IPO) and list GrandVision ordinary shares on Euronet Amsterdam exchange sometime in 2015 “depending among other things on conditions in the financial markets,” a statement said.

The company had previously said it anticipated an IPO, as VMail previously reported.

The intended IPO will consist of a secondary offering of 20 percent to 25 percent of the shares held by founding shareholder HAL Optical Investments B.V., an indirect subsidiary of HAL Holding N.V. HAL has hired ABN Amro Bank NV and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to manage the IPO.

GrandVision is one of the world’s largest optical retailers, with a portfolio of 33 leading optical retail banners in 43 countries. These include 5,600 stores under such brands as Apollo-Optik in Germany, Generale d'Optique in France and Pearle in the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, Vision Express in the U.K. and many others around the world.

The offering is expected to be available to institutional investors and retail investors in the Netherlands, and to certain qualified institutional investors in certain other various jurisdictions. Following the offering, HAL intends to remain a significant long-term shareholder in GrandVision, the statement said.

Theo Kiesselbach, CEO of GrandVision, noted, “Starting in 1996, GrandVision has, at an incredible pace, grown to become the global leader in optical retail. We believe that this IPO now marks a milestone in the history of GrandVision. With this we feel the responsibility to work even harder to bring high quality and affordable eyecare to more and more people around the world.”

GrandVision reported an operating profit of €223 million on €2.1 billion of sales in the first nine months of 2014.