Bausch & Lomb announces acquisition of eyeonics

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — Bausch & Lomb announced here that the company has entered into an agreement to purchase eyeonics, maker of the accommodating IOL crystalens.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008, but other terms were not disclosed. Upon completion of the deal, Bausch & Lomb will absorb eyeonics' operations as part of its surgical business, according to officials from both companies.

Both companies touted the deal as offering physicians the combination of the known brand equity of Bausch & Lomb with the entrepreneurial spirit of eyeonics.

Henry C. Tung, MD, Bausch & Lomb's corporate vice president for the global surgical division, said crystalens' rapid penetration into the presbyopia-correcting IOL market — competing with much larger companies Alcon and Advanced Medical Optics — has made the company and its well-known product an attractive prospect."That is not a small feat for a company of that size. We feel that taking a great product, and the team that got them to that point, and adding them to the [Bausch & Lomb] infrastructure will help boost them even more," Dr. Tung told Ocular Surgery News. "We are very excited about the growth potential of that product."

Eyeonics generated approximately $34 million in revenue in 2007, an increase of 100% over the prior year.

J. Andy Corley, eyeonics' co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer, told OSN that the company is "excited to part of the Bausch & Lomb family and to bring our spirit of entrepreneurship to a higher point of innovation."

The Bausch & Lomb customer base "has been looking for a premium channel option from the home team and now they've got one," Mr. Corley said.

Bausch & Lomb was acquired last year by the private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Bausch & Lomb officials point to the eyeonics' purchase as evidence that Warburg is committed to investing in the company's surgical business.