Novartis to spinoff Alcon as a separately-traded standalone company.

Novartis announced its intention to spinoff Alcon, its eye care division, into a separately-traded standalone company. The planned spinoff would enable Novartis and Alcon to focus fully on their respective growth strategies. Completion of the transaction is subject to general market conditions, tax rulings and opinions, final Board of Directors endorsement and shareholder approval at the 2019 AGM in line with Swiss corporate law. Novartis also announced that it will initiate a share buyback of up to USD 5 billion to be executed by the end of 2019[1]. This action is planned to be largely funded through the proceeds of the divestment to GSK of the consumer health joint venture stake, net of the AveXis acquisition payments.