MONROVIA, Calif.—Staar Surgical (Nasdaq: STAA) recently completed the purchase of the interests of all other shareholders in Canon Staar Co., the joint venture formed by Staar, Canon (NYSE: CAJ) and Canon Marketing Japan in 1988 to develop, manufacture and sell in Japan products using Staar’s technology. Canon Staar, which generated $10.4 million in revenue during fiscal 2006, has been renamed Staar Japan and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Staar operating directly in the Japanese market.

At closing, Staar paid the Canon companies $4 million in cash and 1.7 million newly issued shares of preferred stock for their 50 percent interest in the Japanese venture.

Describing the transaction as “a major milestone for Staar Surgical,” Barry Caldwell, Staar’s president and chief executive officer, said, “While Canon was a positive strategic partner of ours for nearly 20 years, our agreements with them created some significant limitations regarding potential strategic options and those are now removed. We now have a direct marketing and selling presence in Japan, one of the largest ophthalmic surgical markets in the world. At its current sales levels, we continue to expect that Staar Japan will add in excess of $12 million of revenue to Staar Surgical in 2008. In addition, the acquisition gives Staar exclusive control over the rights to use our patents and other proprietary technology in Japan, China and worldwide.”