Kickstart: Focusing on a possible big deal in eye care

Consumer medical giant Bausch + Lomb may be preparing to sell off its eye care business, which would include contact lens manufacturing taking place in Rochester, N.Y.

The Financial Times wrote Sept. 16 that the sale would settle debts for its parent company, Bausch Health. Bausch is working with advisers from Goldman Sachs to explore interest from potential buyers. It would be an expensive deal, with Bausch + Lomb's enterprise value placed at about $10 billion, according to FT. It's expected to post $4.7 billion in sales for 2024. Bausch Health has accrued debts of more than $20 billion.

Bausch + Lomb told FT it declined to comment.

Bausch's North American manufacturing operations include vision, medical/surgical and consumer health care businesses. Its Rochester plant had a 115,000-square-foot expansion in 2021 with "state-of-the-art production lines" for daily disposable contact lenses.

At that time, B+L President Joe Gordon told local TV station WXXI that the Rochester plant was vital and would continue to operate even if the division was sold off.

"It goes hand in hand with Rochester. Our Bausch + Lomb mission is to help patients see better to live better, and Rochester is a poster child for us on how we're accomplishing our mission."

If knowledge is power, then boy do you have some great opportunities to level up the next few weeks.

Call this a shameless plug if you must, but we want to make sure you don't miss out on opportunities to learn more about vital trends in the caps side of the business during Plastics News' Plastics Caps + Closures online event on Sept. 18 and a special Plastics News Live about the global plastics treaty on Oct. 8.

The caps forum covers new technology, sustainability, public policy, and mergers and acquisitions with speakers from Berry Global Group, Cargill, Origin Materials, StackTeck and industry organizations. If you register in advance of the event, then you can watch the sessions on Sept. 18 or access them at your convenience after the conference.

PN Live will be a deep dive into discussions and implications of the treaty, with presentations from the American Chemistry Council, Plastics Industry Association and the Association of Plastic Recyclers.

"This is a thing that will impact us moving forward forever," said Patrick Krieger, vice president of sustainability at the Plastics Industry Association. "This is the start. This is not anywhere near done."

Krieger will be participating in both events. You can get a preview of his presentation for Caps + Closures here.

Someone must have been working in the marketing lab late one night when they came up with this plan to get consumers to buy more vinyl records.

The idea? Release 1962's one-hit wonder Monster Mash on glow-in-the-dark vinyl just in time for Halloween. The price? A whopping $29.99 for the full album by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. (The 15-track album also includes "The Translyvania Twist," "Irresistible Igor" and "Blood Bank Blues.")

If you don't want the full album, for $14.98 you can opt to pick up the vinyl single of "Monster Mash," with a B-side of "Monster Mash (Next Habit Remix)." But that's only available in neon green, not glow-in-the-dark.