MILAN--The transitioning of Cole National into Luxottica Group continued early this month as Cole, now a Luxottica subsidiary, sold its 21 percent interest in Pearle Europe to HAL Investments for 144 million Euros in cash (approximately $191 million).

Luxottica's acquisition of Cole closed in early October.

HAL Investments, a subsidiary of HAL Holding of The Netherlands, already held the balance of Pearle Europe's outstanding shares, except for approximately 1 percent held by the European chain's management.

Luxottica took over Cole's stake in Pearle Europe last October, as a result of the Cole acquisition. Luxottica said the sale of the Pearle Europe shares "was required by the articles of association of Pearle Europe in light of the acquisition."

In announcing the sale, Luxottica also noted that "holding an interest today in an optical retail chain in the still highly fragmented European market is not strategic" for it.

Pearle Europe operates about 1,500 stores in 12 European countries. Cole got its 21 percent interest in the company when it acquired Pearle Vision from the U.K.'s Grand Metropolitan in 1996.

HAL increased its stake in Pearle Europe from 68 percent to nearly 79 percent early last year when it bought out most of the shares owned by the chain's management.

Luxottica is also in the process of acquiring the remaining stock in Australia's OPSM Group (click here for related story).