Three suitors for Bausch + Lomb
Monday, January 7 2013 | 00 h 00 min | News
According to specialized news website Bloomberg, Abbott Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are in the running to acquire Bausch + Lomb, which Warburg Pincus LLC is seeking to sell. Merck & Co and Pfizer have also shown interest in the company, according to Bloomberg, which has quoted anonymous sources.
Warburg expects to receive the first-round bids by the end of January, and is said to be seeking at least $10 billion. Such a transaction would be the third biggest sale ever by a private-equity-controlled company. The company had paid about $4.6 billion in 2007 for Bausch + Lomb, an acquisition that included debt. Since then, its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization have risen from $400 million to just under $700 million. Its 2013 projected earnings are about $800 million.
Bausch + Lomb’s businesses are pharmaceuticals, vision care and surgical. About 40% of its sales come from North America, 33% from Europe and the rest from Asia and Latin America. Its Canadian head office is located in Vaughan, Ontario.
Source:
