====Alcon (ALC) is spun off from Novartis (NVS)

Alcon, one of the world’s leading eye-care companies, is being spun off from Swiss drug giant Novartis and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange and SIX Swiss Exchange on Tuesday.

The expectation on Wall Street is that Alcon’s American depositary receipts (ticker: ALC) will trade at between $40 and $50 each, but there is some uncertainty about the price. Unlike for most spinoffs of U.S. companies, there has been no so-called when-issued trading in the shares.

Novartis said the spinoff gives it a financial profile close to that of its industry peers, and said it is well-positioned for sustained top- and bottom-line growth. The company plans to improve innovative medicine core margins into the mid-30s by 2022.

Vas Narasimhan, chief executive of Novartis, said: "We continue to reimagine ourselves as a leading medicines company powered by breakthrough medicines, data science and advanced therapy platforms."

Novartis said it plans to continue paying a "strong and growing" annual dividend up from the 2.85 Swiss francs ($2.85) a share paid in 2019, with no adjustments for the Alcon spinoff.

The company said it expects to complete its previously announced share-buyback program of up to $5 billion by the end of the year.