Dive Brief:
- STAAR Surgical shareholders have voted to reject Alcon’s revised acquisition offer after a contentious proxy battle.
- The maker of implantable lenses for the eye intends to terminate its merger agreement with Alcon, STAAR said Tuesday, based on the preliminary results from a special shareholder meeting. Final results from the meeting will be reported in a regulatory filing. Neither company will pay a termination fee.
- STAAR said it would remain a stand-alone, publicly traded company. Its shares fell more than 12%, to trade at $20.92, Tuesday morning on the Nasdaq.
Dive Insight:
Alcon agreed to buy STAAR in August for about $1.5 billion in total equity value. An extended proxy battle between activist investor Broadwood Partners, which owns 30.2% of STAAR’s outstanding common stock, and company management followed, delaying a shareholder vote on the deal. In December, Alcon increased its offer price for STAAR to about $1.6 billion.
STAAR CEO Stephen Farrell said the company remains committed to realizing the full potential of its EVO Implantable Collamer Lens technology. “We respect the outcome of the vote and look forward to working collaboratively with shareholders to ensure the best possible outcome for STAAR as a stand-alone company,” Farrell said in a statement.
In the short term, STAAR will continue to prioritize profitable sales growth and driving efficiencies through its distribution network, according to the CEO. “Our EVO ICL technology should be used more extensively worldwide, and it is our mission to achieve that objective,” said Farrell.
BTIG analyst Ryan Zimmerman, in a note Tuesday, said Alcon could still submit a new tender offer but is more likely to move on, to focus on its other products and existing markets.
Broadwood founder and President Neal Bradsher, in a statement, said the firm was confident in STAAR’s prospects as a stand-alone company.
“To that end, we are ready and willing to work collaboratively with the Board and our fellow shareholders to implement the necessary changes to enable effective oversight and execution on STAAR’s opportunity to become a highly profitable and scaled enterprise,” Bradsher said.
