AMO & VISX: Number one in Refractive Surgery

Advanced Medical Optics, a specialist in ophthalmic surgery, has acquired Visx , the largest manufacture of lasers for vision correction surgery, for a combination of cash and stock worth $1.27 billion. Analysts were surprised by the magnitude of the deal, following so soon on the heels of AMO's $450 million purchase of the ophthalmic surgical business of Pfizer in April, which brought it products for the cataract and glaucoma markets. However, this is not simply the merger of two major ophthalmic companies for the purpose of achieving critical mass; the two companies operate in distinct, largely non-overlapping markets, and to all appearances fit together like hand in glove.

Advanced Medical Optics Inc. (AMO), a specialist in ophthalmic surgery, has acquired Visx Inc. , the largest manufacture of lasers for refractive (vision correction) surgery for a combination of cash and stock worth $1.27 billion. AMO will pay $26.52 a share for Visx, a 46% premium to the closing price on the previous day, or 14 times next year's sales. [See Deal] Analysts were surprised by the magnitude of the deal, following so soon on the heels of AMO's $450 million purchase of the ophthalmic surgical business of Pfizer Inc. in April, which brought it products for the cataract and glaucoma markets. [See Deal] However, this is not simply the merger of two major ophthalmic companies for the purpose of achieving critical mass; the two companies operate in distinct, largely non-overlapping markets, and to all appearances fit together like hand in glove.

For AMO, the acquisition accelerates a strategy of creating three major core franchises around a group of individual products it inherited when it spun out of Allergan Inc. in...

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