Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-09-24
Form Type: DEFC14A
Source: 0001213900-25-090869
Chunk: 10

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-09-24
Form: DEFC14A
Chunk 10
---
 2027,19with margins continuing to expand thereafter.

In our 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 anda qualifying termination.22Payments 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
immediatelyupon the consummation of the Proposed Merger (i.e., “single-trigger”).24A 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 “”
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