VAUGHAN, Ontario—Bausch + Lomb Corp. (NYSE/TSX: BLCO) announced Friday that it has expanded its board of directors to add two designees to the board from Carl C. Icahn and affiliated entities (Icahn Group). Brett Icahn and Gary Hu have joined the board effective immediately, according to the B+L announcement. Bausch + Lomb became an independent public company in May when it began trading under the “BLCO” symbol on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange, as VMAIL reported.

Former parent company Bausch Health continues to hold approximately 85 percent to 90 percent of the common shares of Bausch + Lomb.
 
Brett Icahn has been a portfolio manager for Icahn Capital LP since October 2020. Icahn Capital LP is a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises LP, a diversified holding company engaged in a variety of businesses. He has held a variety of investment advisory roles at Icahn Enterprises since 2002, including as an investment strategy consultant from 2017 to 2020, and as portfolio manager of the Sargon Portfolio from 2010 to 2017. He has served on the board of Bausch Health since 2021.
 
Hu has been a portfolio manager for Icahn Capital LP since October 2020. Prior to joining Icahn Capital LP, he held a variety of investment management roles from 2012 to 2020 at Silver Point Capital LP, a credit-focused investment firm, and from 2010 to 2012 at Stockbridge Investors, the public securities affiliate of Berkshire Partners LLC.
 
Bausch + Lomb has entered into an amended and restated director appointment and nomination agreement (as amended and restated, the “Icahn Agreement”), between the company and the Icahn Group. 
 
As previously disclosed in the company's registration statement on Form S-1, the Icahn Agreement had previously provided that the company agreed to, among other things, appoint to the board two individuals identified by the Icahn Group and reasonably acceptable to the company as soon as practicable following the written election of the Icahn Group after the consummation of the previously announced distribution by Bausch Health Companies Inc. (Bausch Health) of approximately 80 percent of the company's common shares to existing Bausch Health shareholders.
 
As amended and restated, the Icahn Agreement provides that the Icahn Group is permitted to have two individuals appointed to the board immediately.
 
"We are pleased to welcome Messrs. B. Icahn and Hu to our board of directors,” Joseph C. Papa, chairman and CEO of Bausch + Lomb, said in the announcement. “Messrs. B. Icahn and Hu will both serve Bausch + Lomb well as we and Bausch Health continue to work toward our previously announced spinoff, which we continue to believe will unlock value for shareholders and enable us to further focus on building out our fully integrated eye health company that serves patients and consumers through all phases of their lives to meet unmet needs in eye health."