Piper Jaffray Discontinues Coverage on Alcon (ACL)

Piper Jaffray is out with its report today on Alcon ACL, discontinuing coverage on shares of ACL.

In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "On December 15, 2010, Alcon and Novartis agreed to a merger agreement whereby Novartis will acquire the 23% of Alcon shares it does not currently own and Alcon will subsequently become a division of Novartis. Novartis will pay Alcon shareholders compensation of $168/share, payable in shares of Novartis stock (maximum exchange ratio of 2.8x:1) and a contingent cash consideration to be paid out if the $168/share price is not reached using the maximum exchange ratio. With the belief that Novartis' acquisition of Alcon Inc. will close in the second quarter of 2011, we are discontinuing coverage of ACL shares."

Shares of ACL closed Wednesday at $164.28, down 0.27% from Tuesday's close.