to include, but are not limited to the following: receipt of any necessary regulatory or other approvals, existence of satisfactory market conditions, and in the case of a tax-free transaction (such as the intended Arrangement) an opinion of US tax counsel (and, if the Company so elects, a tax ruling requested from the Internal Revenue Service with respect to certain aspects of the Arrangement) regarding US tax treatment and the tax ruling requested from the Canada Revenue Agency confirming the tax-free treatment of the transaction to the Company and Bausch + Lomb, and their respective shareholders and receipt by the Company’s board of directors of one or more opinions from an independent appraisal firm confirming the solvency and financial viability of the Company prior to the Arrangement and of the Company and Bausch + Lomb and its successor after consummation of the Arrangement. Completion of the arrangement is also subject to receipt of approvals, including receipt of applicable shareholder approvals and receipt of and compliance with the interim and final orders from the British Columbia Supreme Court. At the hearing for the final order under any plan of arrangement, the British Columbia Supreme Court will consider whether to approve the Arrangement based on the applicable legal requirements and the evidence before the Court as to, among other things, whether the plan of arrangement is fair and reasonable. Other conditions precedent which are outside the control of the Company include, without limitation, approvals of the NYSE and the TSX. There can be no certainty, nor can the Company provide any assurance, that all conditions precedent to the Arrangement, whether under the Arrangement Agreement or otherwise, will be satisfied or waived, or, if satisfied or waived, when they will be satisfied or waived.
The Company’s shareholders are expected to have an opportunity to consider and approve the Arrangement at a special meeting of shareholders to be called in due course.
Amendments to Master Separation Agreement and Tax Matters Agreement
The Company and Bausch + Lomb entered into technical amendments to the Master Separation Agreement and Tax Matters Agreement on April 28, 2022 to allow the Company to elect, in its sole discretion and as a condition to completion of the Arrangement, to obtain a tax ruling from the Internal Revenue Service with respect to certain aspects of the Arrangement, in addition to a tax opinion regarding the US tax treatment of the transaction referred to above.
The foregoing summaries of the Arrangement Agreement and amendments to the Master Separation Agreement and Tax Matters Agreement are not complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the full and complete text of those agreements, copies of which are attached as exhibits to this Current Report on Form 8-K and incorporated herein by reference.
Item 2.02. | Results of Operations and Financial Condition. |
On April 28, 2022, in connection with launch of the roadshow for the IPO of Bausch + Lomb, Bausch + Lomb provided ranges of certain preliminary results, which are set forth below. Bausch + Lomb provided ranges of these preliminary results because its closing procedures for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2022 are not yet complete. Our and Bausch + Lomb’s actual results remain subject to the completion of our and their closing procedures, subsequent events, as well as the completion of the review of the financial statements by our and Bausch + Lomb’s independent accountants. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the preliminary results set out below, which may differ from actual results reported by us or Bausch + Lomb. During the course of the preparation of our and Bausch + Lomb’s unaudited financial statements and the notes thereto, additional items that require adjustments to the preliminary results presented below may be identified. Further, the presentation of Bausch + Lomb’s revenues, gross profit, operating results and depreciation and amortization of intangible assets as they will appear in the standalone financial statements of Bausch + Lomb will include certain corporate and shared costs that are allocated to Bausch + Lomb, including expenses related to BHC support functions that are provided on a centralized basis, including expenses for executive oversight, treasury, accounting, legal, human resources, shared services, compliance, procurement, information technology and other corporate functions, and will therefore differ from segment revenues and segment profits of the Bausch + Lomb segment as presented in the financial statements of BHC which do not include such allocations.
The preliminary and actual results provided below do not represent a comprehensive statement of Bausch + Lomb’s financial results or the financial results of the Bausch + Lomb segment within our business, and should not be viewed as a substitute for unaudited financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, the preliminary estimates for the three months ended March 31, 2022 are not necessarily indicative of the results to be achieved in any future period. The unaudited actual results for the three months ended March 31, 2021 have been derived from the books and records of Bausch + Lomb.