Bausch & Lomb Files Plans For IPO

By Kristin Jones

Eye-care company Bausch & Lomb Holdings Inc. has filed plans for an initial public offering.

The company's holding company, WP Prism Inc., registered plans to raise up to $100 million, saying it would use the proceeds to pay down debt. This amount is often named in IPO registrations as a placeholder.

Bausch & Lomb, owned by private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, sells over-the-counter eye-health medications, contact lens solution, prescription drugs and surgical products.

For the year ended Dec. 29, the company reported a loss of $68.3 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $123.9 million. Sales rose 6.8% to $3.04 billion.

Pharmaceutical sales were the biggest top-line contributor, accounting for sales of $1.29 billion.

The company expects an aging global population and a rising global middle class to drive demand for eye health products.

The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Bausch & Lomb Inc.'s private equity owners were leaning toward an IPO of the company after potential buyers balked at an asking price of $10 billion or more. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter who said that Warburg Pincus LLC had fielded interest from five potential buyers.

Bausch & Lomb had hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ( GS ) to explore a potential sale in December, the Journal reported.

Warburg Pincus took Bausch & Lomb private in 2007 in a $3.7 billion deal.

Write to Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@dowjones.com

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