Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-09-15
Form Type: PREC14A
Source: 0001213900-25-087448
Chunk: 10

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-09-15
Form: PREC14A
Chunk 10
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 view, the Proposed
Merger materially undervalues the Company and its extremely valuable assets.

A Windfall for the Executives

Given these apparent deficiencies,
we have wondered why the Board would support an inadequate transaction such as this one, especially when the management team has noted
that the Company’s “short-term tactical challenges will mostly be addressed by the end of [the second quarter of 2025]”20
and that it is “optimistic for the future.”21
Having read the Company’s proxy statement, we believe we understand the reason for STAAR’s abrupt change in strategic direction.

Under the Company’s
compensation program, named executive officers (“NEOs”) are entitled to receive cash severance and other benefits in the
event of a change in control of the Company and a qualifying termination.22
Payments of this nature are generally referred to as “double-trigger” change in control benefits.23

However, under the terms
of the Merger Agreement, the Company’s compensation program will be revised so that NEOs’ equity awards vest immediately
upon the consummation of the Proposed Merger (i.e., “single-trigger”).24
A substantial portion of the value of those awards reflects assumed performance at 160% of target levels,25
with no evidence that the Company’s performance in 2025 would otherwise merit such a generous payout.26

In the aggregate, STAAR’s
NEOs are poised to earn approximately $55 million in compensation payable in connection with the Proposed Merger.27
The Company’s CEO alone stands to receive approximately $24 million in compensation,28
despite the fact that he had been serving in his role for just five monthsat the time the Merger Agreement was executed.29

Stockholders Should Vote “ AGAINST” the Proposed Merger

We have been a proud stockholder
of the Company for more than three decades, and we would be pleased to continue to own a large portion of the Company and support its
continued recovery and future growth. We understand that the Company recently faced some near-term challenges related to inventory and
tariffs, but the Company’s reduced revenue over a few quarters is not, in our view, a fundamental issue, nor do we believe it is
likely to persist.

| 19 | Id. at 61. |

| 20 | See the Company’s Q1 2025 Earnings Call, available                                                                                                 
 at https://investors.staar.com/~/media/Files/S/staar