Pharmaceuticals Alcon will not take over US company Staar Surgical
The ophthalmology group Alcon will not take over the US company Staar Surgical. The opposition from Staar shareholders was ultimately too great.
06.01.2026, 15:41
SDA
After several postponements, Staar shareholders were due to vote on the improved purchase offer from Alcon at an extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday. However, even before the meeting it became clear that the project had no chance of success.
Preliminary estimates by a proxy advisor had shown that the votes required for the sale of Staar to Alcon could not have been achieved, Staar announced on Tuesday afternoon. Staar therefore intends to terminate the merger agreement with Alcon.
According to Staar, the termination of the agreement has no financial consequences for either party. No termination payments would have to be made.
Reactions on the stock exchange to the canceled merger were mixed. While Alcon shares rose on the Swiss stock exchange and were up 2.2 percent at CHF 64.92 at around 3.15 p.m., the price of Staar shares traded on the US tech exchange Nasdaq (-16.5 percent) fell in pre-market trading.
