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LAVAL, Quebec—Bausch Health Companies (NYSE/TSX: BHC) announced Thursday that chief financial officer Paul S. Herendeen will be appointed to the newly created role of advisor to the chairman and chief executive officer of Bausch Health, effective June 1. Herendeen will be succeeded as CFO by Sam Eldessouky, senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer of Bausch Health. Herendeen will remain an executive vice president and Section 16 officer of Bausch Health, according to the announcement.

In addition, the company said that it continues to “make progress on its plans to expedite the spinoff [of Bausch + Lomb] and will announce executive leadership of the standalone B+L business when it reports its first-quarter 2021 financials in early May.” As VMAIL reported, Bausch Health in August 2020 said it intends to spin off the Bausch + Lomb eye health business into an independent publicly traded company.

In Thursday’s announcement, chief executive officer Joseph Papa said Herendeen has had a profound impact on Bausch Health since joining the company. "When Paul began his tenure as CFO, the company faced significant operating and financial challenges, the most pressing of which was a daunting amount of debt, much of which was maturing near-term.

"His disciplined financial approach and strong operational focus were invaluable to the company as he developed and executed a plan to reduce our debt and extend the length of our maturities, giving the businesses freedom to operate. I am grateful to Paul for all of his contributions as CFO, and I look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role.”

Effective June 1, Eldessouky will assume the role of CFO and join the executive committee. He will report directly to Papa.

"I am pleased to announce the promotion of Sam Eldessouky to chief financial officer of Bausch Health and welcome him to the executive team,” Papa said. "Sam has been a leading force in executing the planned spinoff of our eye health business with his unique wealth of knowledge having successfully spun out several companies in a prior position.”

A successor for Eldessouky in his current role as senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer is under review by leadership and is expected to be announced shortly, the announcement noted.