Date: Mar 01, 1999 Author: Roni B. Robbins Source: bizjournals (
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Contact lens giant Ciba Vision Corp. is moving further into the laser correction market. The Duluth-based manufacturer of optic and ophthalmic products recently gained more stock in Autonomous Technologies Corp. (Nasdaq: ATCI) of Orlando, Fla., the third-largest laser correction company in the country.
Ciba Vision owned 14 percent and 1.5 million shares of Autonomous Technologies (ATC). The two companies also had an agreement for Ciba Vision to receive royalties from the sale of ATC vision correction equipment. But because ATC has not received approval from the Food and Drug Administration yet to sell its equipment, the Florida company gave Ciba Vision nearly 200,000 shares instead, said Tim Barabe, Ciba Vision's chief financial officer and an ATC board member.
He expects Ciba Vision's stake in ATC to increase from 1.7 million shares to 1.85 million shares when Summit Technology Inc. of Waltham, Mass. (Nasdaq: BEAM), the nation's second-largest laser correction company (VISX Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., is the largest), merges with ATC. The deal, valued at about $100 million, is expected to be completed in early April, Barabe said. Ciba Vision would own about 3 percent of Summit Technology, he said.
As part of the merger, Glen Bradley, president and CEO of Ciba Vision, will replace Barabe on the ATC board.
Patients who undergo laser surgery are potential contact lens wearers, Barabe said, because the surgery can't always correct their vision to 20/20. The companies that perform the surgeries also use Ciba Vision's pharmaceuticals, he added.
Ciba Vision is the eye-care unit of Swiss-based Novartis AG, which employs 2,000 people in Atlanta and 6,000 nationwide. Ciba Vision had more than $1 billion in sales in 1998, Barabe said
