Bausch & Lomb CEO Directly Tied to Warburg Pincus Co-President
Shareholders of Bausch & Lomb Inc today approved a $3.7 billion buyout by private-equity firm Warbug Pincus LLC (see article from The Wall Street Journal). This comes after Advanced Medical withdrew a $4.3 billion offer in August after Bausch’s board rejected the higher offer. We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if any connections played a role behind Bausch’s acceptance of the lesser offer from Warburg.
A number of common connections can be found between Bausch & Lomb and Warburg Pincus, with the strongest being between Ronald Zarrella and Joseph Landy. Zarrella (Chairman and CEO at Bausch & Lomb) shares a directorship at Avaya with Landy (Co-President and Managing General Partner at Warburg Pincus). This significant connection between the heads of the companies likely played a key role in finalizing this deal.
Another notable connection is present through Yum! Brands where Bausch Director Jonathan Linen is a Director along with David Dorman, a Senior Advisor and Partner at Warburg.
A final noteworthy link involves Alan Bennett and Jeffrey Garten. Bennett (Director at Bausch) was SVP/CFO at Aetna until February 2007. Garten, a former Director at Warburg, has been a Director at Aetna since 2000. It is quite plausible that given the senior leadership positions they held at Aetna, Bennett and Garten are well acquainted. This relationship could be quite valuable as Garten probably retains contact with his former colleagues at Warburg Pincus.
These strong connections may shed light on the reasoning as to why Bausch & Lomb preferred to accept the lower buyout offer from Warburg Pincus over the significantly higher offer from Advanced Medical.
Click here for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map (Internet Explorer browsers only): http://nv.intellectspace.com
Oh, that makes sense. I wonder what the shareholders think about that tie between Zarrella and Landy, if that's even really a public fact. Anyone else have an opinion on this?
Posted by: Robin | September 21, 2007 at 03:04 PM