Yunqi Capital Issues Letter to STAAR Surgical Board Opposing Adjournment of the Special Meeting and Calling for the Company to Move Beyond the Proposed Merger with Alcon

Yunqi Capital Limited (together with its affiliates and the funds it advises, “Yunqi Capital”), an investment management firm and 5.1% shareholder of STAAR Surgical Company (“STAAR” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ:STAA), today released the following letter to the Board of Directors of STAAR after the decision by STAAR Surgical and Alcon Inc. (SIX/NYSE:ALC) to adjourn STAAR’s Special Meeting of Stockholders to vote on the proposed sale to Alcon on the terms announced on August 5, 2025.

The text of the letter to the Board is as follows:

October 25, 2025

STAAR Surgical Company
25510 Commercentre Drive
Lake Forest, CA 92630

Dear Members of the Board:

We are writing to express our disappointment over the Board’s decision to adjourn the Special Meeting of Stockholders until November 6, 2025. Extending the timeline prolongs uncertainty about STAAR’s future and delays the Board and management team from implementing a clear strategy to accelerate the Company’s momentum, particularly in its largest market of China.

We are also concerned that the Board and Alcon did not communicate a reason for the adjournment. That makes us worry they will use the time window created by this adjournment to amend the existing merger agreement in some manner to try and appear proactive and appeal to shareholders. We believe such efforts would be illusory and would not address any of the fundamental concerns we and other shareholders have been voicing since announcement, and we remind the Company that shareholders will not be appeased by such desperate measures.

Continuing a process while Alcon’s opportunistic $28 per share offer remains outstanding will act as a deterrent for new bidders, and will taint the bidding process. In our view, running a rushed sales process from a position of weakness is unlikely to yield credible interest that offers fair value for STAAR. The Company’s negotiating power would inevitably be impacted by the low, baseline reference point of Alcon’s $28 offer and its predatory terms. Furthermore, based on recent disclosures of the Company, we believe certain members of the Board and management team are conflicted in light of the Alcon transaction and should not be involved in seeking competing offers.