Houlihan Lokey Advises Advancing Eyecare

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Advancing Eyecare (AEC), a portfolio company of Atlantic Street Capital (ASC), has been acquired by Cornell Capital LLC. The transaction closed on June 13, 2022.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and comprising seven market-leading brands in eye care instrumentation, AEC offers a one-stop solution for ophthalmic equipment and servicing needs to a diversified base of customers, ranging from independent eye care practitioners to national chains, hospitals, teaching institutions, and others. Led by a best-in-class leadership team with deep industry expertise, AEC’s market-leading sales and service teams—the largest, most experienced and technical sales force and equipment service teams in the industry—provide a differentiated offering to fully meet customer needs to operate a eye care practice.

ASC is a private equity firm that invests in lower-middle-market companies poised for the next level of growth. The firm targets entrepreneurial management partners and fundamentally sound companies between $4 million and $25 million of EBITDA that will benefit from capital investment and ASC’s value-added strategic and operational support. As a result, ASC works closely with management to unlock its business’ underlying value and help them succeed.

Cornell Capital is a U.S.-based private investment firm with ~$6 billion of AUM and offices in New York and Hong Kong. Leveraging decades of global investment experience, the firm takes a disciplined approach to investing across the consumer, financial services, and industrials/business services sectors, often in companies that can benefit from the firm’s Asia presence and cross-border expertise. Founded in 2013 by Senior Partner Henry Cornell, the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, the firm is led by a highly seasoned team with significant shared investment experience.

Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to AEC. This transaction highlights the uniquely powerful combination of Houlihan Lokey’s leading Healthcare and Specialty Distribution teams, which enable the firm to provide superior client service and outstanding results. The AEC transaction also demonstrates Houlihan Lokey’s continued success advising market-leading providers across the optical value chain, having collectively advised on 11 transactions in the sector in recent years.