Dutch investment company HAL Holding's hearing aid retail subsidiary AudioNova International, and the shareholders of Geers Hörakustik have just signed an agreement for the Dutch company to take over 75% stake in Geers, the German hearing aid retailer. Geers has a network of about 450 owned stores, mainly in Germany, Switzerland and Poland. According to the transaction terms, the German operations of AudioNova known under the brand name “HörGut” will be combined with Geers' German operations. The combination will allow AudioNova to represent close to 580 stores with annual sales of about 130 million euros and also to benefit from the Geers brand name. Christian Geers will be the CEO of the new group.The transaction remains subject to the approval of antitrust authorities. The transaction is expected to close before the end of the first quarter of 2010.This is a new stage for the Dutch group HAL that is pursuing its conquest of the European stage and is increasingly moving toward its objective of becoming a leader in the international market of hearing aids through its company AudioNova. It is present in seven European countries (Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy and Portugal).