Staar Surgical (Nasdaq: STAA) CEO Stephen Farrell and Board of Directors Chair Elizabeth Yeu have stepped down from the company’s board, effective immediately.
Farrell will remain CEO until Jan. 31, 2026, the company announced today.
Neal Bradsher and Richard LeBuhn of Broadwood Partners, Staar’s largest shareholder, and Christopher Wang of Yunqui Capital will join Staar’s board, effective immediately. The board expects to announce Staar’s new chair and CEO in the near future.
Broadward has agreed to certain customary standstill provisions in connection with the cooperation agreement, which will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the announcement said.
As a result of the announcement, STAA shares were down more than 3% to $21.01 apiece by afternoon trading today.
Staar Surgical is seeing changes at the top after a failed merger
The decision comes on the heels of Staar’s failed $1.5 billion merger with Alcon (NYSE: ALC) in early January 2026. In the planned merger, Alcon intended to purchase all outstanding shares of Staar common stock in cash — which at the time of the proposal, represented approximately a 59% premium on Staar’s 90-day volume-weighted average price — financed through the issuance of short- and long-term credit facilities.
In the acquisition, Alcon would inherit Staar’s line of Evo Implantable Collamer lenses (ICLs), which assist in vision correction for patients with moderate-to-severe myopia, with or without astigmatism.
Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the transaction, but Staar faced major opposition from its main shareholder, Broadwood, which owns 31% of Staar’s outstanding common shares. Broadwood stated in September 2025, one month after the merger’s announcement, that the potential transition “suffers from multiple process and evaluation deficiencies.”
In response, Farrell and Yeu signed a joint statement strongly recommending that the shareholders vote in favor of the merger proposal, saying the deal would unlock a significant premium on Staar’s closing stock price.
Throughout a 45-day window shop period, during which the company saw no competing acquisition proposal, the shareholders continued to state their beliefs that the deal failed to reflect Staar’s value. Alcon then urged the shareholders to consider an amended proposal, sharing its belief that Staar didn’t have the scale or resources to remain profitable as a standalone company — and should the proposed deal fall through, Alcon claimed the company would fall victim to a silent takeover by activist investors “with no premium and a highly uncertain future.”
But, in early January, Staar failed to obtain stockholder approval for the merger and terminated its merger agreement.
Commentary from Broadwood Capital’s Neal Bradsher
“I am honored to join Staar’s Board. The Company’s leading technology, strong financial position, and privileged market position provide it with the opportunity to achieve growth and profit margin expansion. As Staar’s largest shareholder, Broadwood is committed to helping the Company realize its full potential. I want to thank Liz Yeu for her early recognition of the advantages of the ICL over tissue removal refractive procedures. I want to thank Steve Farrell for leading Staar out of a difficult situation in early 2025 and back to profitability and cash flow generation. And I look forward to working with Art Butcher, an accomplished senior executive of one of the world’s most successful medical device companies, as well as my other new colleagues on the Staar oard. I believe that the exit compensation package provided to Steve by the prior board was appropriate based on the conditions at the time.”
Bradsher founded and has served as president of Broadwood Capital, a private investment firm that serves as the general partner of Broadwood Partners, since 2002. He’s currently a director at Lineage Cell Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing cell therapies for neurological and ophthalmic conditions.
