BAUSCH & LOMB

Bausch + Lomb, an American company founded in Rochester, New York, is one of the world's largest suppliers of eye health products, including contact lenses, lens care products, medicines and implants for eye diseases. The company was founded in 1853 by an optician, John Jacob Bausch, and a financier, Henry Lomb. Its Ray-Ban brand of sunglasses was sold in 1999 to the Italian Luxottica Group. Bausch + Lomb was a public company listed on the NYSE until it was acquired by the private equity firm Warburg Pincus PLC in 2007. In May 2013, Valeant Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy Bausch + Lomb from Warburg Pincus LLC for $8.57 billion in cash. The deal, which was approved by share holders, included $4.2 billion earmarked to pay down Bausch + Lomb debt, and closed on August 5, 2013. Today, the company is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and employs about 13,000 people in 36 countries.