Bausch & Lomb CEO talks about an IPO for the company. See article at reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011...20111013?feedType=RSS&feedName=innovationNews
B&L can not sell the company. If it was worth more than 4.5 billion it would already be sold. Lots of empty promises about potential new products. No one will buy until B&L actually delivers on new products or show real market share gains.
You might as well say they will get 20 B. It's not going to happen and they know it otherwise they would be long gone. They are groping around in the dark hoping some fool comes along as this thing rots for and R&D perspective and market shares quietly decline. It's like having a football player who is over the hill and you're stuck with their contract and you would love for someone to pick them up but as each day goes by it is less likely to happen.
WP trusted a bunch of fools to put this company together and most of them are now gone.
WP trusted a bunch of fools to put this company together and most of them are now gone.
The culture of this company has not changed even after all of the changes to upper management. How can this happen? Without a fundamental reorganization of the company into distinctly separate business units and a thorough review of the mid-managers to see if they are part of the problem instead of part of the solution the culture of this company will not change.
No one's turning this sow's ear into even a cardboard purse. That is the problem WP lives with day in and day out.
It would be interesting to know what the timeline is for the introduction of the new products. Getting these products to the market quickly and approved in all of the worldwide markests as soon as they come out is critical to the success of B&L.
Potential buyers of this company are likely using the projections of FDA approval as a measure of whether the organization is worth purchasing. If B&L says they are coming out with X product soon and it takes them more time for FDA approval than is typical in the industry it would show that the organization is flawed and inefficient. If the CEO says they are coming out with X product and the product is approved by the FDA and other regulatory agencies ahead of projections then it shows that the company has the know how and efficiency for long term success.
Since the CEO has made statements about coming out with X products the clock is now ticking and the success or failure of an IPO or company sale will depend on when these products are approved by global regulatory agencies in the expected time estimates.
A merger with J&J or Abbott in the next 6 months is the only thing that makes sense at this point. Tell the two companies that you are selling and take the highest bid. Wait any longer than that and the two companies will move on as they will go in another direction.
The 6 month clock is now ticking.
The big issue is that B+L is not a growth company. It's not an innovator. The products on market are either "me too's" or "who really cares." There's no game changer out there, and I would say, the compound they are working on to have a "non-steroid, steroid" is really going to boil down to a bunch of "don't need it, thanks for bringing something to market we don't care about." The lens division gets outclassed by Ciba and J+J. Surgical IOLs and equipment is not competitive enough. Any company that does its due diligence on B+L will find a whole bunch of disappointment mixed with some misdirection and desperation. This place is a sinking ship...just a matter of time.
The big issue is that B+L is not a growth company. It's not an innovator. The products on market are either "me too's" or "who really cares." There's no game changer out there, and I would say, the compound they are working on to have a "non-steroid, steroid" is really going to boil down to a bunch of "don't need it, thanks for bringing something to market we don't care about." The lens division gets outclassed by Ciba and J+J. Surgical IOLs and equipment is not competitive enough. Any company that does its due diligence on B+L will find a whole bunch of disappointment mixed with some misdirection and desperation. This place is a sinking ship...just a matter of time.
The big problem is the asking price. John Sheets (who is now long gone) told me when I joined this company that based on what Alcon was able to fetch, WP expected a $20B price tag for B&L. They have probably discounted this a few billion but you can be pretty sure their sales price is still way out of whack with what anyone would ever pay for it. The IPO won't happen as they would have to open the books to the public, not just a company or two, and this would lead to much more varied interpretations of what is here. At that point the genie would be out of the bottle and everyone would know for sure what is and isn't here.
