QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Let it be our task, every single one of us, to honor the strength
and the resolve and
the love these brave
Americans felt for
each other and for
our country. Let us never forget to always
remember and to be worthy of the sacrifice they make in our name.” President Barack Obama, addressing Memorial Day crowds at Arlington National Cemetery Article, 1A Sale deal reached for Bausch & Lomb
Bausch & Lomb, the eyecare company, agreed Monday to sell itself to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International of Canada for about $8.7 billion, sidestepping the lengthier process of an initial public offering.
Under the terms of the deal, Valeant will pay $4.5 billion to the investor group that owns Bausch & Lomb, led by the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus. It will also spend about $4.2 billion to repay Bausch & Lomb’s debt.
The agreement continues a flurry of deal making in the health-care industry as companies seek to buy the growth they are hard-pressed to generate on their own.
Announced merger volume in the sector this year is up 14 percent from the period a year earlier, even as takeovers have fallen 8 percent.
Valeant, which is based in Laval, Quebec, has made acquisitions a core part of its growth strategy. The Bausch & Lomb deal is the company’s biggest yet, more than three times larger than the $2.6 billion purchase of the skin-care company Medicis Pharmaceutical last year.
New York rolls out bike-sharing plan
NEW YORK - The nation’s biggest bicycle-sharing program got rolling Monday as thousands of New Yorkers got their first chance to ride a network billed as a new form of public transit in a city known for it.
The privately financed program - called Citi Bike, after lead sponsor Citigroup Inc. - kicked off with 6,000 bikes at more than 300 stations. Plans call for expanding it to 10,000 bikes docked at 600 places in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Riders can unlock the threegear, cruising-style bicycles from any station, take them for 45-minute rides and return them to any rack.
“We now have an entirely new transportation network without spending any taxpayer money,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference.
One of more than 500 bicycle-sharing systems around the world, New York’s is the biggest in the United States, with 15,000 people signed up, city Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn said.
Man arrested after incident on plane
PORTLAND, Ore. - A passenger on a commercial flight from Alaska to Oregon was arrested Monday after he tried to open an emergency exit during the plane’s descent and other passengers had to help restrain him using shoelaces and seatbelt extensions.
Passengers and crew told investigators that 23-year-old Alexander Michael Herrera made “unusual statements” before trying to open the plane’s door Monday morning, FBI spokesman Beth Anne Steele said.
Herrera was booked into a Portland jail on a charge of interfering with a flight crew, and he was expected to make his first court appearance today before a federal magistrate.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 05/28/2013