Opal Concepts Expands Again, Adding Jose Eber Salons

Celebrity hairstylist Jose Eber Salons Inc. said Wednesday he is merging his nine-salon chain salon with Opal Concepts Inc., a marriage that pulls the world-famous coiffeur into the same corporate family as everyman haircutter Fantastic Sams.

Terms of the stock-swap deal between Beverly Hills-based Jose Eber and Anaheim-based Opal were not disclosed. Founder Jose Eber, whose high-profile client roster includes Elizabeth Taylor and Cher, said the deal will allow him to expand his high-end salons, something he did not have the financial wherewithal to accomplish before.

“Things were tight because I was growing very quickly on my own without any backing,” Eber said Wednesday. “I have extremely big ambitions. I want to be in Asia, in Europe.”

Privately held Opal is the world’s second-largest operator of hair salons, with 1,660 salons in the U.S., Canada and Japan and annual revenue of more than $100 million. The company is headed by Ted Nelson, who was chairman of Knudsen Foods Inc., the biggest dairy operation in the west, before it filed for bankruptcy protection in 1987.

The privately held Jose Eber chain, with annual revenues of $20 million, has shops in Beverly Hills, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and Costa Mesa.

The French-born Eber, whose personal haircuts go for $300, will continue to manage his chain of salons. It will operate independently of Opal’s other salon brands.