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Valeant Pharmaceuticals International will pay $8.7 billion to acquire Bausch & Lomb, the eye care company. Under the terms of the deal, Valeant will pay $4.5 billion to the investor group that owns Bausch & Lomb, led by private equity firm Warburg Pincus. It will also spend about $4.2 billion to repay Bausch & Lomb’s debt.

 

The agreement continues the 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% from the period a year earlier, even as takeovers have fallen 8%.


This acquisition follows Valeant's April purchase for Obagi skin care for $348 million.