AMO outbids private equity firm for Bausch & Lomb

Bad news merger of AMO and B&L..

AMO's VISX has about 50% of the excimer laser business.  B&L has the number 2 spot with about 25% of the market share.  A take over by AMO could pose a monopoly in the laser market, that can hinder innovation. 

AMO (EYE) recently outbid a private equity firm to acquire Bausch & Lomb (BOL).  It has the potential to add to AMO's market share and establish it as the force in Ophthalmology.

Currently the ophthalmic device market is organized into an oligopoly including Alcon, AMO and Bausch.  AMO has shown fairly dramatic growth with its acquisition of VISX, Intralase and Wavefront Sciences.  However, AMO's potential acquisition of Bausch is on a grander scale.  There are multiple areas in which these two companies currently compete, including phacoemuslfication systems,...

In this news release presented today, this leading ophthalmic journal reports that AMO has presented the highest bid for the purchase of Bausch and Lomb.  

- I wouldn't count Warburg Pincus out of the running just yet... they have very deep pockets.  Other bidders may enter the fray as well. - AMO aims to fill in gaps in its businesses, from both an operations perspective (e.g. eyeglasses and contact lenses) and geography (B&L has a strong presence in Latin America and Asia, where AMO is weak). - If the board selects AMO, the deal would...