Luxottica agrees to buy 40 percent of Multiopticas

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy's Luxottica (LUX.MI), the biggest eyewear maker in the world, has agreed to buy 40 percent of Spain's Multiopticas Internacional SL for about 40 million euros in a push into the Latin American market.

Luxottica, whose brands include Oakley, Ray-Ban and Prada, is to get a call option to buy the other 60 percent between 2012 and 2014, it said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

"This transaction... marks Luxottica's entry into the retail business in South America, a region with excellent growth potential and where the group already has a solid presence through its wholesale network," it said.

Multiopticas has more than 390 stores in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and under retail brands such as GMO and SunPlanet. The deal is expected to close by the end of June.

Early this spring, Luxottica's chief executive, Andrea Guerra, said proposals kept landing on his desk even though acquisitions were not a priority.

In the first quarter, Luxottica's net profit fell 22.5 percent on lower sales due to the weak global economy.

Among its retail brands are LensCrafters in the United States.

(Reporting by Gilles Castonguay; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)