Switzerland: Alcon, Inc. announced that its shareholders approved the merger of Alcon into Novartis AG at its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Under the terms of the merger, Alcon shareholders will receive 2.9228 Novartis shares or American Depositary Shares plus a cash payment of $8.20 for each Alcon share. Completion of the merger is subject to approval by the Novartis shareholders, which vote will take place on April 8, 2011. Following completion of the merger, Alcon will terminate its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Alcon shareholders also re-elected Dr. Daniel Vasella, Cary Rayment, Thomas Plaskett, Dr. Enrico Vanni, and Norman Walker to the board of directors for the period between the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and the completion of the merger. Shareholders also voted to grant a discharge to the current and former members of the board of directors, approved the 2010 business report and approved KPMG as auditor.