Company: STAA
Filing Date: 2025-12-11
Form Type: DFAN14A
Source: 0001213900-25-120777
Chunk: 7

Company: STAAR SURGICAL CO
Filing Date: 2025-12-11
Form: DFAN14A
Chunk 7
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AR’s management delivered its initial projections in late July; however, within just ten days, the management team deliver ed an entirely new – and much more conservative – set of projections, which ultimately formed the basis of the fairness opinion used to justify the M erger ▪ The revised projections provided to the Company’s financial advisor in the final days before the Merger Agreement was signed res ulted in a materially lower valuation range for STAAR, as did the excessive discount rate used by the financial advisor The Fairness Opinion Was Predicated on Flawed and Potentially Manipulated Assumptions ▪ Several of STAAR’s current and former directors have close ties to Alcon which, in our view, may have impaired their objectiv ity ▪ When the original Merger Agreement was signed, STAAR’s CEO was set to receive egregious “golden parachute” payments totaling $24 million, despite having served as CEO for just five months; while the amended agreement reduces these payments, that doesn’t change th e f act that the CEO was highly incentivized to consummate a transaction when the original Merger Agreement was executed We Believe the Process Was Rife with Material Conflicts ▪ STAAR’s “Hail Mary” go - shop did not provide an even playing field for other potential counterparties and continued to afford Alcon advantages over other would - be bidders, including matching and information rights ▪ Neither the “window shop” provision nor the performative “go - shop” process are a substitute for an open and competitive process, in our view; such provisions almost never lead to alternative bids, so it is no surprise that no parties came forward to attempt to break up a sig ned transaction ▪ The performative go - shop process was doomed from the beginning and, in our view, was a desperate attempt to provide cover for th e agreement with Alcon and an irredeemably flawed process from start to finish The Performative Go - Shop Process Was Not Designed to Produce the Best Available Offer for STAAR

Broadwood Partners, L.P. The Process Was Rife with Material Conflicts from the Beginning 12 Several directors and advisors have close ties to Alcon that were seemingly not disclosed – to each other or stockholders ▪ It is unclear that STAAR’s independent directors knew of Dr. Yeu’s relationship with Alcon while negotiations were taking pla ce — The Company’s proxy statement indicates that Dr. Yeu informed the “Company” of this conflict when she joined the Board in 2021 — However, none