Bausch Health skyrockets 27% after saying it will spin off its eye-care business

• Bausch Health announced on Thursday that it plans to spin off its eye-care business.
• Shares of the company skyrocketed as much as 27% in premarket trading Thursday.
• The spinoff will result in two companies — the eye care business, and a "diversified pharmaceutical company with leading positions in gastroenterology, aesthetics/ dermatology, neurology, and international pharmaceuticals," the company said.
• Watch Bausch Health trade live on Markets Insider.
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Shares of Bausch Health skyrocketed as much as 27% in premarket trading Thursday after the company announced its intention to spin off its eye-care business.

The pharmaceutical company plans to separate its Bausch + Lomb brand and portfolio of eye products into an independent and publicly traded company, it said in a press release Thursday.

"We are committed to taking action to unlock what we see as unrecognized value in Bausch Health shares, and we believe that separating our business into two highly focused, stand-alone companies is the way to accomplish that goal," said Joseph Papa, CEO of Bausch Health, in a statement.

The spinoff will result in two companies — the eye care business, and a "diversified pharmaceutical company with leading positions in gastroenterology, aesthetics/ dermatology, neurology, and international pharmaceuticals," the company said.

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The eye-care unit had $3.7 billion in revenue last year, where the rest of the company brought in about $4.9 billion, the company said.

The spinoff will return the eye-care business to an independent company, which it was before Valeant Pharmaceuticals International bought Bausch + Lomb in 2013 for $8.7 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company dropped the Valeant name in recent years to distance itself from previous controversy, according to The Journal.

It has also been attempting for several years to dig itself out of roughly $30 billion in debt. Bausch remains about $24 billion in debt, according to The Journal.

Bausch Health has shed about 37% year-to-date through Wednesday's close.