Canon Staar has been renamed Staar Japan and has become a wholly owned subsidiary of Staar operating directly in the Japanese market. The transaction is expected to increase Staar’s direct presence in the high growth Asian surgical marketplace.
At closing, Staar paid $4 million in cash and 1.7 million newly issued shares of series A convertible preferred stock to the Canon companies. The series A convertible preferred stock will be convertible into common stock at a one-to-one ratio, and under certain circumstances will be redeemable for cash at $4 per share.
Barry Caldwell, president and CEO of Staar Surgical, said: “The acquisition gives Staar exclusive control over the rights to use our patents and other proprietary technology in Japan, China and worldwide while strengthening our intellectual property position in areas such as preloaded injectors.”