STAAR Surgical terminates Alcon merger agreement

STAAR Surgical is terminating its statement to merge with Swiss eyecare specializer Alcon successful a $1.6bn deal, ending a disputatious play betwixt the institution and its shareholders.

At a peculiar gathering of stockholders held connected 6 January, STAAR failed to unafraid the indispensable votes to o.k. the transaction.

Commenting connected the outcome, STAAR CEO Stephen Farrell said: “We respect the result of the ballot and look guardant to moving collaboratively with shareholders to guarantee the champion imaginable result for STAAR arsenic a stand-alone company.”

In a abstracted statement, Alcon CEO David Endicott commented: “Throughout this process we remained disciplined with our views connected terms and risk.”

The merger betwixt STAAR and Alcon was primitively announced successful August 2025. At the time, Farrell conceded that factors including China headwinds, specified arsenic initiatives from the nation’s authorities affecting instrumentality procurement, had hampered STAAR’s viability arsenic a standalone company.

STAAR’s Q1 2025 financials revealed a 45% diminution successful income to $42.6m, down from $77.4m successful Q1 2024.

At the time, Farrell asserted that the transaction with Alcon represented the champion way guardant and would supply the top worth for STAAR shareholders. STAAR’s largest shareholder, Broadwood Partners, disagreed, and swiftly moved to reason the projected merger successful September 2025.

The concern firm, which holds a 27.5% involvement successful STAAR, alleged that the company’s committee had failed to prosecute an “adequate” income process. Broadwood besides pointed retired that Alcon antecedently offered $55 per stock for STAAR erstwhile it moved to get the institution successful October 2024 – a terms “far above” the August connection of $28 per share.

According to Broadwood, STAAR’s committee besides displayed “intransigence” successful explaining the process. For instance, Broadwood claimed that aft making a books and grounds demand, items it required to adequately measure the merger agreement, it received nary communications oregon update from STAAR having demanded the applicable paperwork “more than 3 weeks ago”.

Continuing to fastener horns with STAAR passim the remainder of 2025, Broadwood requested that STAAR enlist caller directors to oversee the merger. To rise capitalist confidence, STAAR and Alcon agreed upon a 30-day “go-shop” model done 6 December 2025. Under the change, STAAR and its fiscal advisor planned to interaction parties to invitation involvement successful an alternate transaction to the Alcon merger, with proposals invited from immoderate funny party.

In a last-ditch effort to implicit the transaction, Alcon upped its bid from $1.5bn to $1.6bn successful December 2025, However, raising the transaction’s terms per stock to $30.75 and the different actions undertaken by STAAR and Alcon evidently proved insufficient successful swaying capitalist sentiment.