NEW YORK—Eyewear designer Alain Mikli has closed on a deal which brings new financial and management investment partners into Alain Mikli International, VMail has learned.

In the agreement, which closed this week, the designer told VMail that NEO Investments, a U.K.-based boutique finance firm has joined with Dominique Alba, a long-time eyewear executive and the former head of Logo S.A., and Mikli himself to invest in and restructure the France-based company to position it for the future. Under the arrangement, Mikli retains 47 percent of the international company, with Alba, now president and CEO of the company, having a 6 percent stake and NEO Investments’ stake at 47 percent.

Mikli will concentrate his role on creative direction, communication and product development for the company, which recently marked its 30th anniversary. According to Mikli, at the end of its most recent fiscal year, September 2008, the company’s worldwide sales were €52 million Euros.

Alba, who sold the Logo Group to investors and management last summer, will be based in Paris. He will oversee the management of Alain Mikli International, which includes the Alain Mikli and Philippe Starck collections, the Mikli by Mikli and Mikli Studio collections as well as 25 Alain Mikli retail stores/boutiques around the world.

Mikli told VMail, “We had been exploring many options for a few years, in order to have the best way to bring the company into the future. I have known Dominique for a long time; he has a great experience in this industry and understands me and what we need. He joined us in January as we continued to refine the business plan and determine a clear picture for Alain Mikli International. And the financial partners at NEO, too, are investing in our brand and are bringing new capital and experience. [This arrangement] gives me the freedom to do what I have dreamed for a long time, and it creates a unique and very good balance between the financial, the management and the design elements.”

He continued, “The current financial climate around the world is a crisis that is a long road for many companies and we are happy to look ahead now, with different possibilities.” Mikli said he will be gearing his efforts to new collections and concepts to be readied for 2010 and presented toward the end of this year.

NEO Investments brings together investors in Europe and is described as having a successful track record in financial, strategic and legal aspects of mergers and acquisitions, private equity and capital placement transactions. The firm also invests principal capital alongside its clients and has private equity funds under management.