Novartis Hangs a Purchase Price on Fort Worth Eye Care Startup: $465 Million

Novartis has revealed how much it paid to buy Encore Vision, a Fort Worth startup that has developed an eyedrop to treat presbyopia -- and it's an eye-opener.In an SEC filing Wednesday, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant that owns Alcon put the preliminary fair value of the transaction announced last month at $465 million. Novartis reported that the deal includes an initial cash payment of $375 million "before ordinary purcahse price adjustments," plus $90 million due Encore shareholders over time "upon achievement of specified development and commercialization milestones."That's a huge payday for investors in the company, including the Cowtown Angels, a Fort Worth angel investor network whose members along with a local venture capital fund put about $4 million into the company."Encore Vision is the first Cowtown Angels investment to be sold, and it's a home run!" said Mike Butts, chair of the Cowtown Angels Steering Council, in a statement.Bios Partners invested $3.7 million into Encore Vision and was its largest single largest shareholder, said Les Kreis, who co-manages the fund and served as an Encore director. About eight other Cowtown members invested the other $300,000.  Continue reading...