Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-09-29
Form Type: DFAN14A
Source: 0001213900-25-093211
Chunk: 11

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-09-29
Form: DFAN14A
Chunk 11
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 not conduct a formal market solicitation or auction process. According to the company’s proxy filing, Citi’s engagement was limited to providing a fairness opinion and advising on Alcon’s offer terms, not canvassing strategic or financial buyers for competing bids. The only outreach to potential alternative suitors came from Farrell, who held brief preliminary talks with the two unnamed parties.

This compressed timeline and absence of a broad market check raise questions about whether shareholders were given the chance to realize full value through a competitive sale process. Broadwood argues that the board’s rushed timeline prevented Party A and Party B from mounting a real challenge, potentially costing shareholders acquisition value.

More importantly, the hedge fund believes Alcon is trying to acquire STAAR ahead of imminent clinical trial results comparing Staar’s EVO ICL to LASIK performed with Alcon’s laser. Favorable data could materially boost Staar’s valuation.

Broadwood also pointed out that Alcon secured terms with STAAR just before the release of second-quarter results showing “progress by STAAR in reducing its cost structure and resolving the temporary challenges that resulted in the sharp decline in its stock price in late 2024 and early 2025.” The hedge fund suggested that Alcon “swooped in at a low price when STAAR was well along in fixing the problems that we believe had caused Alcon to back away from its previous offer at a much higher price.”

With its large stake, Broadwood is well-positioned to block the merger at the shareholder meeting, but it will need support from other stakeholders, such as Soleus Capital (5.2% stake) and Armistice Capital (5.7% stake), which round out the top five shareholders alongside BlackRock and Vanguard. Investing.com reached out to both Armistice and Soleus, which have yet to respond to requests for comment.

What’s at Stake

Research into Broadwood’s claims unveils an intriguing controversy at the center of one of ophthalmology’s biggest acquisitions of the year.

STAAR is the clear global leader in phakic IOLs (intraocular lenses), which correct moderate-to-high myopia, or nearsightedness, through implants, without reshaping the cornea. This is a key differentiator from LASIK, which uses lasers to cut the cornea open.. The company controls roughly 75% of global phakic IOL procedures by units and over 90% by revenue, making it the dominant player in its niche.

| ● | Japan: EVO                                                                               
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