BASEL, Switzerland—Novartis said on Friday it expects to execute the planned spinoff of its Alcon eyecare business on April 9. The pharmaceutical company said the “important conditions precedent [to] the 100 percent spin-off” of Alcon have been met, including receipt of authorizations and rulings. The transaction will be completed by way of a distribution of a dividend in kind to Novartis shareholders and ADR (American Depositary Receipt) holders, according to the company’s announcement. In the distribution, each Novartis shareholder will receive one Alcon share for every five Novartis shares/ADRs they hold on April 8, at the close of business.

Novartis said approval has been given by the SIX Exchange Regulation for the listing of the shares of Alcon Inc. on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Authorization has also been received for the listing of shares in Alcon Inc. on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Shares in Alcon Inc. are expected to be listed and traded under the ticker symbol "ALC," and Alcon will also be included in both the Swiss Market Index (SMI) and Swiss Performance Index (SPI) from the first day of trading.

Alcon has secured debt financing of $3.5 billion through a group of banks, according to the Novartis announcement. The Alcon credit rating will be investment grade following the spin-off. Moody's Investor Service and S&P Global Ratings have rated Alcon at Baa2 and BBB, respectively, with a stable outlook, the Novartis announcement stated.