Abbott Labs To Buy Advanced Medical Optics For $1.36B

The Illinois company will pay $22 a share in a tender offer.

By: Editor

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Abbott Laboratories has agreed to purchase Advanced Medical Optics Inc. for $1.36 billion.

The deal puts Abbott Laboratories into the eye-health market at a discount and also exposes it to a slumping business.

Abbott Park, Ill.-based Abbott Laboratories will dole out $22 a share for Advanced Medical Optics Inc. in a tender offer, and Abbott executives defended the amount.

Shares of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. had crumbled nearly 90 percent in September and October as the market for laser-vision correction – for which the company is the top equipment maker – was severely damaged by economic pressure. Advanced Medical, which has been restructuring to cut costs, is still recovering from a contact lens solution recall in 2007.

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