Shares of the contact lens and eye-care company climbed as much as 7.9%
Author of the article:
Bloomberg News
Michael Hytha
Boxes of Bausch + Lomb Inc. Sensitive Eyes contact lens solution on display at a pharmacy in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo by Jonathan Fickies/Bloomberg News files Canada’s Bausch + Lomb Corp. climbed as much as 7.9 per cent in its trading debut after its initial public offering priced below a marketed range to raise US$630 million.
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Bausch + Lomb, the first of two businesses being spun out by Bausch Health Cos., was seen as a test of whether a stable, profitable business could help break the ice for dozens of companies waiting in the wings to go public.
Shares of the contact lens and eye-care company opened trading Friday at US$18.50, after selling for US$18 in the IPO. The shares were up 5.9 per cent to US$19.07 at 1:31 p.m. in New York trading, giving the company a market value of US$6.67 billion.
Bausch Health will get the proceeds from the IPO as the selling shareholder, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bausch Health had aimed to raise as much as US$840 million at the top of the US$21 to US$24 price range.
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Article content With the spinoff, Joseph Papa has moved from chief executive officer of Bausch Health to CEO and chairman of Bausch + Lomb. Thomas Appio has been appointed to replace him as the top executive at Bausch Health, according to a statement. Papa will remain chairman of Bausch Health.
The IPO was led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The company’s shares are trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BLCO. Bausch + Lomb is also trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the same ticker.
Bausch + Lomb, which began as an optical goods shop in 1853, was bought by Bausch Health — then known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. — for US$8.7 billion in 2013 from an investors group that included Warburg Pincus.
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Article content In an effort to raise money to pay off tens of billions in debt on its books from that era, Bausch Health is also planning to spin off its Solta Medical skin-care unit. Bausch Health, which is keeping its core pharmaceutical operations, had about $23 billion in total debt as of Dec. 31.
Solta spinoff Solta submitted its IPO filing to the SEC in February but hasn’t moved ahead with proposed terms for its share sale. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Solta had net income of US$72.8 million on revenue of US$219 million, according to its filing.
Bausch + Lomb, based in Vaughan, Ontario, reported US$65 million in net income on US$3.8 billion in revenue on a pro forma basis in 2021. In addition to contact lenses and solutions under brands including Ocuvite, PureVision and Biotrue, the company also makes ophthalmic pharmaceuticals for ailments such as glaucoma, as well as surgical tools and devices.
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Article content Bausch + Lomb’s offering is topped in the U.S. this year only by private equity firm TPG Inc.’s US$1.1 billion listing in January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Welcome to The Upside Down market, where strange things are the norm Vicious stock reversal is a symptom of the Fed’s feedback problem Rosenberg: Resources have overtaken financials on the TSX and their run may not be over yet Weak start After a record-busting run last year, U.S. IPOs have had their weakest start since 2016, the data show. Including blank-check firms, 116 companies had raised US$16.6 billion this year before the Bausch + Lomb offering. That compares with more than 10 times that total raised by 471 companies at the same point in 2021.
New filings for IPOs have started to trickle in. Steinway Musical Instruments Holdings Inc., the storied grand piano maker, filed its listing document last month.
Others, such as yogurt maker Chobani Inc. and social media platform Reddit Inc., have been waiting to move ahead with their IPO plans. Chobani filed publicly with the SEC in November. Reddit, which said in December that it had filed confidentially with the SEC, hasn’t moved ahead with a public filing yet.
Bloomberg.com
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