Quebec's Valeant buys Synergetics USA for $192M

Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals said Wednesday it will buy eye surgery product maker Synergetics USA for as much as $192 million.

Valeant has already announced two acquisitions worth at least $1 billion this year, so the purchase is relatively small by its standards. But the company said Synergetics' products will strengthen the business of Bausch + Lomb, which it bought for $8.7 billion in 2013. Synergetics makes products used in surgeries on the back of the eye, as well as surgical equipment and other products.

The Quebec-based company said it will pay $6.50 per share, or $166.2 million, for Synergetics. Valeant could make payments worth another $1 per share, or $25.6 million, if Synergetics reaches $65 million in annual sales of ophthalmology products over the next few years.

Synergetics USA Inc., based in O'Fallon, Missouri, had $64.8 million in revenue in the fiscal year that ended on July 31, 2014. It said $35.2 million came from ophthalmic products and the rest came from surgical generators and other products.

Shares of Synergetics climbed $2.19, or 50 percent, to close at $6.58, and Valeant shares rose $8.13, or 3.6 percent, to $232.18.

In April Valeant paid $11.11 billion for Salix Pharmaceuticals, gaining products including Pepcid and Zegerid for ulcers and the constipation treatment Relistor. In August it agreed to buy Sprout Pharmaceuticals for $1 billion. That announcement came days after the Food and Drug Administration approved Sprout's drug Addyi, the first prescription drug intended to boost sexual desire in women.

On Tuesday the company said it will work with AstraZeneca PLC on a potential psoriasis drug. It could pay AstraZeneca $445 million and the companies will share profits.