A large swiss company called Novartis said yesterday that it would be taking control of Alcon, Eye Care Company by purchasing a majority stake from Nestle at the amount of $28.1 billion, raising its on to 77%, eventually they would also like to acquire the rest.
Collectively with the $10.4 billion paid by Novartis for it last year and nearly $11.3 billion of its own shares which is presenting minority shareholder for the final 23% of Alcon, it is set to be the biggest most expensive merger in Swiss History.
The company is approaching further into the eye care industry hoping to benefit from Alcons, Pharmaceutical, surgical and consumer eye care business lines which benefitted a $6.3 billion in 2008 sales alone.
Raymund Breu, chief financial officer of Novartis, said in an interview that the eye-care business had “higher growth rates than many other franchises in the health care sector’’ and that the market expected eye care to stay elevated for another five years.
“There is little overlap between the businesses,’’ said Eric Althoff, a spokesman for Novartis, explaining that he did not anticipate antitrust issues because Alcon was more concentrated in surgical treatments, and Novartis in pharmaceutical treatments and consumer products. Among Novartis’s more well-known eye products are GenTeal eye drops, Zaditen Ophtha for seasonal allergies, and Nyogel for ocular hypertension.
