Bausch & Lomb, the eye-care company primarily owned by Warburg Pincus, filed documents on Friday to go public again.
The company said in the registration filing that Warburg Pincus would continue to own a majority of the stock after the offering. A Bausch & Lomb spokesman on Friday declined to comment on the size of the offering.
In December, Bausch & Lomb was exploring strategic options for the company. DealBook reported that it had hired Goldman Sachs to explore a sale, hoping to fetch more than $10 billion. At the time, people briefed on the matter said that if an acceptable bid was not found, Warburg Pincus would likely pursue an initial public offering of the company instead.
Earlier this year, people briefed on the matter said Warburg was seeking up to $10 billion in a sale or I.P.O.
On March 15, the company’s board declared a cash dividend of $7.40 a share, resulting in distributions of $772 million to shareholders, primarily Warburg Pincus. The company financed the dividend payout by borrowing $700 million under a new unsecured loan as well as $100 million under its revolving credit facility.
Warbug Pincus had bought Bausch & Lomb in 2007 for about $3.67 billion, in a bid to help lift the company’s fortunes. A year earlier, the company had been forced to recall its popular ReNu With MoistureLoc contact lens solution because of manufacturing problems.
Bausch & Lomb reported a net loss of $68.3 million in 2012, down from a loss of $123.9 million in 2011. It had revenue of $3.04 billion last year, up from $2.8 billion in 2011.
Bausch & Lomb, founded in 1853 by John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb as an optical goods shop in Rochester, had previously been publicly traded from December 1958 to October 2007 under the symbol “BOL.â€
The company now has more than 11,000 employees worldwide and is still based in Rochester.
