Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-12-16
Form Type: PX14A6G
Source: 0001213900-25-122243
Chunk: 2

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-12-16
Form: PX14A6G
Chunk 2
---
 more than 21 potentially interested strategic and financial parties globally. We suspect that this third party and
others like it will continue to be in the market in the future.

The Prospects for the Business Are Strong, in Spite of Leadership Changes that May Come

We were encouraged to see that ISS expressed well-founded skepticism
about STAAR management’s pessimistic outlook for the future of the business. ISS stated that “shareholders continue to have
a reason to question whether the board’s messaging about downside risk from an operational perspective is completely credible.”

We disagree with ISS on its primary basis for its change in recommendation.
In reaching its conclusion, ISS focused on a concern that, if shareholders reject the transaction, “shareholders would need to be
concerned about next steps for STAA,” since “shareholders cannot rely on the incumbent leadership team.”

Our view is that while leadership changes may follow a failed merger
vote, the fundamentals of STAAR’s business remain firmly intact. In the near term, STAAR shareholders require continuity of operations
and stewardship of the business while the Board recalibrates leadership at the senior level. The core drivers of STAAR’s value—its
proprietary ICL technology, established global distribution infrastructure, and deep penetration in key growth markets—are unchanged.
Moreover, the relevant economic data and market indicators underpinning the Company’s valuation point to solid and accelerating
demand for ICL procedures, reinforcing our view that STAAR’s standalone prospects remain strong and continue to improve.

We also view positively STAAR management’s recent comments regarding,
in their words, “downward” sales trends in China during the fourth quarter of 2025. Sales trends in the last quarter were
already materially better than our expectations. Looking ahead, STAAR China is scheduled to launch the differentiated EVO ICL V5 product
line in January 2026. In advance of this launch, we would expect distributors to reduce existing inventories in order to mitigate obsolescence
risk and free up capital to support purchases of the new product, which would be priced at an approximately 30-70% premium to the existing
line of ICLs, according to our on-the-ground research. This increase in blended average selling price provides an exciting sales driver
for 2026 and is under-appreciated by the market.

This momentum in STAAR’s business should not be transferred to
Alcon at substantially less than fair value simply because the Company may undertake leadership changes following this failed process.
Alcon shareholders should