(PRESS RELEASE) NEW YORK — Atlantic Street Capital (ASC), a private equity firm that invests in lower middle market companies to unlock equity value through an operationally intensive investment approach, announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell Advancing Eyecare, North America’s leading provider of ophthalmic instruments, to Cornell Capital.
Advancing Eyecare was formed in 2019 when ASC combined its 2016 portfolio company investment in Lombart Instrument, the leading U.S. distributor of ophthalmic instruments to ophthalmologists and optometrists, with Marco Ophthalmic Inc, a market leading, high-tech instrumentation supplier. Advancing Eyecare operates seven leading brands which, in addition to Lombart and Marco, consist of INNOVA Medical, S4Optik, Enhanced Medical Services, Ophthalmic Instruments Inc., and Santinelli International. During its ownership, ASC recruited CEO Brad Staley to drive the company’s development. In addition to its organic growth, Advancing Eyecare completed eight add-on acquisitions, including the acquisition of Santinelli International in December 2021, a respected leader and award‐winning provider of optical finishing equipment. The company also established several distribution partnerships.
Brad Staley, Chief Executive Officer of Advancing Eyecare, said, “Advancing Eyecare has developed an outstanding group of companies providing a large offering of quality instrumentation products to the ophthalmic equipment industry. We thank the Atlantic Street Capital team for their support and guidance over the past three years to combine our efforts and create a leading eyecare instrumentation provider.”
Andy Wilkins, Managing Partner of ASC, commented, “Since forming the company we executed on our plan to develop a broad range of technology, products, and services whose combined scope and leading brands provide the highest level of eyecare for patients. We are proud to have played a role in further building the company’s leadership position. Advancing Eyecare has dramatically enhanced the services delivered to patients and we are very happy with our partnership with Brad and his team.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022. Kramer Levin served as legal counsel to Advancing Eyecare and Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor.