CooperVision To Buy Contact Lens Company Sauflon For $1.2 Billion
By Jof Enriquez,
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Cooper Companies, Inc., through its subsidiary CooperVision Holdings Ltd., recently announced the acquisition of British company Sauflon Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for $1.2 billion dollars in cash and credit. The transaction is to be completed by the end of the 2014 fiscal year on October 31, pending regulatory approval.
“We are extremely pleased to announce this acquisition which gives CooperVision the world’s most comprehensive portfolio of daily disposable lenses,” Robert S. Weiss, Cooper’s president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. “CooperVision will now be able to offer a multi-tier daily strategy that includes a full suite of silicone hydrogel and hydrogel lenses, including options within all categories — spheres, torics and multifocals.”
According to Weiss, disposable, daily lenses are the “fastest growing segment of the soft contact lens market,” and this purchase “positions CooperVision as the premier company in this space. In particular, CooperVision adds Sauflon’s Clariti, Bioclear, and NewDay brands of daily disposable lenses to its own Proclear line of daily lenses.
According to an article in Optometry Today, Weiss told analysts during a conference call that the deal will increase CooperVision’s global market share of contact lenses from 19 percent to 21 percent, solidifying its number three position behind Alcon and Johnson & Johnson. In Europe, CooperVision will become the number two player behind Alcon, as the deal is poised to increase Cooper’s market share there from 24 percent to 30 percent, Weiss added.
In a statement, Sauflon said, “This is an exciting new chapter for both companies, as Sauflon’s unique product range can be taken to more markets globally in a faster timescale, so more patients can benefit from the unique technology that Sauflon has developed.”
Sauflon told Optometry Today that its senior leadership teams and managing directors will stay “to assist with and manage the integration” with CooperVision.
With the deal, CooperVision adds Sauflon’s 1,000 workers in Europe, plus $210 million in annual revenue, according to a report from the Rochester Business Journal. Weiss told analysts during the conference call that future growth “for decades to come” lies outside the U.S., and that Cooper’s acquisition of Sauflon is the perfect opportunity to achieve that goal.
Image Credit: “Moms Contact.” Niek Beck. 2009 CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/