Bausch + Lomb starts trading, misses expectations

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On May 6, Bausch + Lomb Corp. announced it launched as a publicly traded company.

The previous day, the former subsidiary of Bausch Health Co. Inc. disclosed pricing of its initial public offering of 35 million common shares at $18 per share—below the estimated IPO price of between $21 and $24 from its April 28 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The same day as the filing, Bausch Health announced it entered into an arrangement to separate its eye health business with, among other, Bausch + Lomb, which is headquartered in Ontario with corporate offices in Bridgewater. The company announced at that time that the transition would take place following the completion of the IPO and expiration of the IPO lockup to Bausch Health shareholders.

According to media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Bausch + Lomb is the first large company in several months to attempt an IPO, but fell short of expectations and raised only $630 million. On May 5, stocks tumbled, including the Dow, which dropped more than 1,000 points, its largest one-day fall since 2020.

Still, Bausch + Lomb celebrated its launch as a publicly traded company in its Friday announcement, stating it began trading under the “BLCO” symbol on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange. As of 2 p.m., it was trading at $19.32 on the NYSE.

“Today marks a tremendous milestone for Bausch + Lomb and an important step forward on the path to an independent company focused on eye health,” Joseph Papa, chairman and CEO of Bausch + Lomb, said in a statement. “Bausch + Lomb has long been associated with many of the most significant advances in eye health, and I am honored to work alongside our 12,000 global employees as we continue to focus on achieving our ongoing mission of helping people see better to live better all over the world.”

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as joint lead book-running managers for the IPO. Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, BofA Securities, Guggenheim Securities, Jefferies, Evercore ISI, Wells Fargo Securities and Deutsche Bank Securities served as joint book-running managers for the IPO, and DNB Markets, HSBC, Truist Securities, AmeriVet Securities, Loop Capital Markets, Ramirez & Co. Inc., R. Seelaus & Co. LLC, Siebert Williams Shank and Stern served as co-managers for the IPO.

Founded in 1853, Bausch + Lomb offers more than 400 products, including contact lenses, lens and eye care products, ophthalmic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter products and ophthalmic surgical devices and instruments.

“Over the course of our company’s nearly two century long history, Bausch + Lomb has always stood at the forefront of cutting-edge scientific and technological optical advancements, and today is no different. We are more focused than ever on developing and offering new treatments to meet unmet eye health needs,” Papa added.

The members of the Bausch + Lomb board of directors are

• Joseph Papa, chairman
• Thomas Ross Sr., lead independent director
• Nathalie Bernier
• Richard DeSchutter
• Sarah Kavanagh
• John Paulson
• Russel Robertson
• Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach

The executive management team includes:

• Joseph Papa, chairman and CEO
• Christina Ackermann, executive vice president and general counsel, and president, ophthalmic pharmaceuticals
• Dennis Asharin, executive vice president, chief global manufacturing and supply chain officer
• Sam Eldessouky, chief financial officer
• Joseph (Joe) Gordon, president, global consumer, surgical and vision care
• Dr. Yehia Hashad, executive vice president of research & development and chief medical officer
• Louis Yu, executive vice president, chief quality officer
• Kelly Webber, executive vice president, chief human resources officer