Novartis completes spinout of Alcon eye biz

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) closed the spinout of its Alcon vision care business, setting the stage for its shares to begin trading today in Switzerland and New York.

The spinout, announced last June, saw each Novartis shareholder receive a single ALC share for every five NVS shares as of the close of business April 1, Novartis said last month.

“For more than 70 years, Alcon has been dedicated to helping people see brilliantly and now, as an independent company, we are pursuing even more opportunities to further that mission,” CEO David Endicott said in prepared remarks. “We are poised to achieve sustainable growth and create long-term shareholder value as a standalone company. We have a long history of industry firsts and, as a nimble medical device company, we are sharply focused on providing innovative products that meet the needs of our customers, patients and consumers.”

Alcon’s share of the roughly $23 billion vision market was 30.9% last year at $7.1 billion, with surgical revenues up 7% to $4.0 billion and vision care sales up 3% to $3.1 billion compared with 2017, the Geneva-based company said.

Novartis bought Alcon in 2010 after a years-long courtship.