Valeant to buy Bausch + Lomb for $8.7B

ROCHESTER, N.Y. Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals says it will buy eye-health company Bausch + Lomb for $8.7 billion in cash in a massive expansion of its ophthalmology business.

Valeant says the deal will help it capitalize on increasing demand for contact lenses and other products because of aging populations, growing demand in emerging markets and increasing rates of diabetes.

Investment firm Warburg Pincus, which leads an investment group that owns Bausch + Lomb, will receive $4.5 billion in cash. The remaining $4.2 billion will be used to repay Bausch + Lomb's debt.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Bausch + Lomb Holdings Inc. makes contact lenses, eye drugs and ophthalmic surgical devices.

Bausch + Lomb will keep its name and become a division of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., based in Laval, Quebec.