Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. shares surged 4% in morning trade Tuesday after a Bloomberg News report that the company is in talks to sell the surgical products business of its Bausch & Lomb subsidiary to the medical technology company Carl Zeiss Meditec AG . The business may be worth about $2 billion, and other bidders could still be interested, according to Bloomberg. The Germany-based Carl Zeiss has an ophthalmology segment that offers equipment and systems to treat eye problems. After facing drug pricing and accounting scandals in 2015, Valeant is now struggling with nearly $30 billion in debt, which it is attempting to reduce. The company tried to sell its Salix Pharmaceuticals business to Takeda last year for $10 billion, but the deal ultimately wasn’t successful. Valeant shares have risen 3.3% over the last three months, compared with a 2.4% rise in the S&P 500 .
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