The headquarters of Bausch Health Solutions stands in Laval, Que., on Feb. 20, 2019.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Glenview Capital Management, a shareholder in Bausch Health Companies Inc., sent a letter to the drugmaker’s chief executive on Friday, saying the spinoff of the Canadian company’s eye care unit should be completed by the end of 2021.
The public letter from Glenview Capital, which currently owns more than 21 million shares, or about 6 per cent of the Canadian company, comes a day after Carl Icahn disclosed a 7.8 per cent stake in Bausch Health, calling the drugmaker’s shares undervalued.
Bausch Health, previously known as Valeant Pharmaceuticals, has sought to get past a flurry of investigations into its accounting and pricing practices under its previous management.
In August, Bausch Health said it would spin off its eye-care unit, Bausch + Lomb, into a separate publicly listed company.
Since its purchase in 2013, Bausch + Lomb has been a stable source of revenue for the company, especially after the accounting issues led to a steep fall in the share price of the one-time Wall Street darling, compounded by concerns over Bausch’s large debt pile.
In its letter, Glenview said the initial details of the plan for the spin-off “appear to be both vague and suboptimal” and called for the separation to be completed by year-end 2021.
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