Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-11-06
Form Type: DFAN14A
Source: 0001213900-25-107231
Chunk: 4

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-11-06
Form: DFAN14A
Chunk 4
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 Acquisition” investor presentation) — ostensibly to support the claim that “headwinds in China are structural,
not transitory” — Alcon omits LTM Q2 2023 as a comparable period. This omission masks, in our view, the actual dynamics of
STAAR’s China business: 2023 procedure volumes were artificially depressed due to COVID-related lockdowns, while 2024 volumes were
temporarily elevated by reopening-driven pent-up demand. We believe that STAAR’s year-on-year procedure volume comparisons are impressive
after accounting for the COVID dynamics and support our belief that STAAR’s challenges in China are transitory, not structural.

Selective Use of STAAR’s Guidance

We are also concerned by the use of STAAR management’s “Current
Guidance” for China ICL sales (page 7 of “Alcon’s Perspective on STAAR Acquisition”), which is selectively deployed
in Alcon’s presentation. Based on our most recent on-the-ground analysis, the market conditions for ICL in China continue to improve,
a view that is supported by the Company’s earnings results. Accordingly, we believe STAAR management’s projected 2026E sales
of $160 million may be significantly understated. We further note that Alcon appears to misidentify 2024 as the year of “inventory
buildup”; our research indicates that excess inventory largely began accumulating in 2023.

STAAR could resolve these questions by releasing current and historical
in-market ICL sales volume from distributors to providers. We believe this data, which has not yet been provided to shareholders, would
be material to shareholder decision-making — and, in this case, would further reinforce the strong shareholder opposition to the
proposed merger.

Selective Use of McKinsey & Co’s Comments on the Chinese Economy

We also want to call out Alcon’s selective references to a report
by McKinsey & Co. entitled “Mid-year update: Five surprises from China’s consumer market” published on August 13,
2025. Alcon quoted the report’s statement that “Despite the return of growth in several sectors, China’s Consumer Confidence
Index (CCI) remains near historic lows and has only gradually been recovering. Concerns about employment, economic stability, and especially
the ongoing property downturn are still top of mind.” However, Alcon failed to acknowledge that, in the same report, McKinsey &
Co stated that consumer sentiment in China “remains well above the levels of sentiment in mature markets like the United States,
Western Europe,