Rochester Business Journal

Bausch & Lomb Holdings Inc. has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission signaling its intent to go public.

The global eye health firm, through its holding company WP Prism, said in the filing it seeks to raise $100 million. That amount, however, could change. Yet to be determined are the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering.

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus bought Bausch & Lomb for $3.7 billion in September 2007, taking the longtime publicly traded company private.

According to published reports late last year, Warburg Pincus had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore opportunities to sell the eye-care company. But recently its focus shifted to an IPO.

In an interview with the Rochester Business Journal last July, Bausch & Lomb CEO Brent Saunders said an IPO was more likely than a sale.

The company has posted a loss in each of the last three years, the registration filing states. Its net losses in 2010-2012 attributable to Bausch & Lomb Holdings were $196 million, $123.9 million and $68.3 million, respectively.

Net sales rose from $937.2 million in 2010 to $1,288 million in 2012.

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