Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients must give written informed consent before any assessment is performed.
• Male or female ages 65 years and older.
• Diagnosed as having hypertension:
• Visit 3/Core double-blind treatment period entry, all patients MUST have a mean seated SBP ≥145 mmHg and <180 mmHg.
• Ability to communicate and comply with all study requirements including measuring their blood pressure at home, daily as instructed, using the home blood pressure monitor provided by the Sponsor.
• Female patients must be post-menopausal for at least one year.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with severe hypertension (mean seated SBP ≥180 mmHg and/or a mean seated DBP ≥110 mmHg).
• Patients who have a history of secondary hypertension (including primary aldosteronism, renovascular hypertension, pheochromocytoma, etc.).
• Patients receiving three or more antihypertensive drugs. Dual fixed dose combination therapy will be considered as two antihypertensive drugs.
• Administration of any agent indicated for the treatment of hypertension after Visit 1, with the permitted exception of those antihypertensive medications requiring tapering down (e.g. beta-blocker and/or clonidine) commencing with Visit 1.
• Known moderate or malignant retinopathy. Moderate defined as: retinal signs of hemorrhage, microaneurysm, cotton-wool spot, hard exudates, or a combination thereof; malignant defined as: signs of moderate retinopathy plus swelling of the optic disk.
• Known or suspected contraindications, including history of allergy or hypersensitivity to ARBs, CCBs, or to drugs with similar chemical structures.
• History of cerebrovascular accident, thrombotic stroke, or transient ischemic attack.
• Significant history of coronary artery disease (CAD) such as any history of myocardial infarction (MI), angina pectoris, and all types of revascularization procedures.

Other protocol-defined inclusion/exclusion criteria may apply" at the end of this section