Over 4 months after announcing its intent to acquire STAAR Surgical Company, Alcon, Inc. is now offering an increased cash offer for the proposed deal.
First, a look at STAAR Surgical.
The Lake Forest, California-based company is most known for its development and commercial marketing of implantable ocular lenses—which are distributed for commercial use in ophthalmic surgeries across 75+ countries.
- Check out these FDA-approved implantable collamer lenses (ICLs; phakic intraocular lenses [IOLs]).
- And see here for what makes them unique (hint: it has to do with their patented, biocompatible lens material).
And this proposed acquisition?
It all began in August, when Alcon made headlines announcing it had entered into a merger agreement to acquire STAAR and:
- Its product line of EVO IOLs
- All outstanding shares of the company’s common stock (at $28 per share in cash)
- See here for a more detailed look at these shares
The reported total transaction value: $1.5 billion.
Why acquire STAAR?
We dove into this in our prior coverage of the proposed deal—click here for that explanation.
So what’s changed between that initial news and now?
A major update: Alcon increased its offer to $30.75 per share in cash—equating to around $1.6 billion in total equity value—and reduced executive payouts.
Take note: This increased the purchase price by an estimated $150 million in equity value from its original offer and represents a:
- 74% premium to STAAR’s 90-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP)
- Compare this to 59% in its original offer
- 66% premium to the closing price of STAAR’s common stock (on Aug. 4, 2025)
- Compare this to 51% in its original offer
That’s quite the change. Anything else?
Indeed. Last month, STAAR’s Board of Directors initiated a “go-shop” process, in which Alcon waived its right to match or implement a “break-up fee” if an alternative proposal to purchase STAAR arose.
- The result of this: By Dec. 6 (the expiration date for this process), STAAR had received no other superior proposed offer.
What else?
While the “go-shop” was underway, Alcon went directly to STAAR’s shareholders to make its case for acquiring the company. Among those reasons:
- STAAR lacks the scale and resources to operate as a “profitable, high-growth standalone company”
- STAAR shareholders’ alternative option for the company’s future is “a silent takeover by activist investors with no premium and a highly uncertain future”
Wasn’t this deal met with resistance from a few shareholders?
That’s … an understatement, to say the least.
Case in point: New York City-based private investment firm Broadwood Partners (which owns just over 30% of STAAR’s shares) has spent the last few months urging the company’s Board to reject Alcon’s original (and now revised) acquisition offer—and has used strong language to do so.
- For example: The shareholder most recently referred to the proposed deal as an “absurd sale process” that has been “plagued by missteps from the very beginning,” and urged shareholders to vote against the revised transaction.
You mentioned a vote?
Indeed. While both Boards of Directors at Alcon and STAAR have already approved the deal, a STAAR stockholder meeting is set for Dec. 19.
- On the agenda: Stockholders will vote on whether to proceed with the amended merger agreement.
And if successful: Alcon expects the transaction to be “accretive to earnings in year two,” with the deal anticipated to close in early 2026 (subject to other customary closing conditions such as regulatory approvals).