Nestle's Alcon to Buy Summit Autonomous

Updated from 8:31 a.m. EDT

Alcon Laboratories

, the eye care unit of food giant

Nestle

(NSRGY) - Get Report

, announced Friday that it will buy laser eye surgery concern

Summit Autonomous

(BEAM)

for $892.8 million in cash.

The move gives Alcon entree into the laser eye surgery market, which is fast growing in popularity.

Shares of Summit soared 46%, or 5 7/8, to 18 9/16 in Friday afternoon trading. There was no action in Nestle's American depositary receipts. (Summit finished up 5 13/16, or 46%, to 18 1/2.)

Under the terms of the agreement, Alcon will pay $19 for each outstanding share of Summit. That's a premium of 50% to Summit's closing price Thursday of 12 11/16.

Alcon makes eye care products such as eye drops, contact lens solutions and office systems for opthamologists and optometrists. Meanwhile, Summit, based in Waltham, Mass., develops and manufactures the laser systems used to correct faulty vision. Last year, the company bought

Autonomous Technologies

, which develops the lasers used in eye surgery. Summit is the No. 2 maker of eye lasers behind

Visx

( VISX).

Fort Worth-based Alcon's name has also been bandied about of late as a possible third party to swoop in and

buy

Wesley Jessen VisionCare

( WJCO) and

Ocular Sciences

(OCLR) - Get Report

. The two contact lens makers agreed to a merger in March only to have

Bausch & Lomb

( BOL) come in days later with an offer for Wesley Jessen alone.