Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-10-15
Form Type: DFAN14A
Source: 0001213900-25-099192
Chunk: 2

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-10-15
Form: DFAN14A
Chunk 2
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 advisory firm to recommend shareholders vote
“AGAINST” the Proposed Merger, joining Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC (“Glass Lewis”) and Egan-Jones
Ratings Company (“Egan-Jones”). With this recommendation, all three major proxy advisory firms – in addition to shareholders
representing more than 34% of STAAR’s outstanding common shares, including Yunqi Capital, Defender Capital, CalSTRS, and former
STAAR CEO David Bailey – have made public their opposition to the Proposed Merger.

Neal C. Bradsher, Founder and President of Broadwood, said:

“We are gratified that all three leading proxy advisory
firms have recommended against this fundamentally flawed transaction. Their findings – along with the public opposition from several
of our fellow shareholders – reinforce our view that STAAR conducted a defective sale process that was rife with conflicts and led
to an agreement to sell the Company at a price that significantly undervalues STAAR and its prospects.

Now that all three major proxy advisory firms and several
of the Company’s largest shareholders have found serious faults in the judgment of this Board and the irretrievably flawed sale
process, we caution the Board against making any further significant decisions, including about the Alcon deal and other transactions,
without robust shareholder involvement and alignment. We continue to urge our fellow investors to vote ’AGAINST’
this flawed deal.”

ISS identified multiple “deficiencies, disconnects, and uncertainties”
with the Proposed Merger and said it is “difficult to identify a compelling reason” for shareholders to support the transaction.
ISS’s report reaffirmed Glass Lewis’s and Egan-Jones’s findings — and Broadwood’s firm belief — that
the deal was pursued at the wrong time, driven by the wrong process, and resulted in the wrong price
for shareholders. The ISS report specifically stated these points as follows:

The Wrong Time

| ● | “The company’s projections reflect meaningful growth and profitability                                                              
 over the next several years. Moreover, the company has a strong balance sheet and cash reserves that should help it weather current 
 headwinds.”                                                                                                                         |

| ● | “… [T]he transaction was announced immediately prior to disclosure                                                                             
 of Q2 financial results, which were better than expected. Not only does this timing invite further suspicion, but the company has              
 changed the manner in which it presents certain challenges, and it has become increasingly pessimistic despite developments since announcement 
 that have been more positive than negative.”                                                                                                   |

| ● | “The