Johnson & Johnson to Buy Abbott

Johnson & Johnson today said it will buy Abbott Laboratories for $4.3 billion in cash.

Abbott Medical Optics posted sales of $1.1 billion last year.

Johnson & Johnson said that the purchase will enter it into the cataracts surgery market and grow its own vision business, which includes Acuvue contact lenses.

Abbott, based in North Chicago, Illinois, said that it is selling the unit to focus on its treatments for the heart and arteries and its disease testing equipment.

The deal is subject to antitrust clearance and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson slipped 38 cents to $118.25 Friday. Abbott shares rose 75 cents to $41.87.