Recent News and Announcements from Centre Partners
New York, NY – April 7, 2022 – Centre Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles, today announced that it has sold its portfolio company Vision Innovation Partners (“VIP” or the “Company”) to Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Based in Annapolis, Maryland, VIP is a leading eye care services provider in the Mid-Atlantic region. VIP has grown significantly during Centre’s investment period, expanding from a local practice with 11 providers across four clinics and one ambulatory surgery center (“ASC”) to a leading multi-state platform providing comprehensive ophthalmology and optometry services with more than 140 providers across 63 clinical locations and 11 ASCs. VIP achieved this tremendous growth through the completion of 23 acquisitions, recruitment of new physicians and execution of organic growth initiatives that have substantially expanded the Company’s scale and geographic reach.
“The sale of VIP represents the successful execution of our strategy of proactively identifying and partnering with an attractive physician practice to build a best-in-class platform within the large and growing ophthalmology sector,” said Jeff Bartoli, a Senior Partner at Centre Partners. “We are proud of the rapid growth that VIP has achieved and greatly appreciate the dedication and leadership of the Company’s management team and physician partners. We wish the team continued success under new ownership.”
During Centre’s investment period, VIP significantly expanded its platform resources through investments across the business, including in management personnel, centralized information technology systems, reporting and data analytics, and integration and support services.
Michael Dunn, Chief Executive Officer of VIP, added, “Centre Partners recognized the opportunity to support our vision of building a market-leading platform within the highly fragmented eye care sector. Throughout our partnership, Centre Partners provided the strategic resources, capital and guidance that proved critical in accelerating VIP’s growth. We are grateful for the support of the Centre Partners team and are excited for the next phase of VIP’s growth.”
Dr. Maria Scott, one of the founding physicians of VIP, stated, “Vision Innovation Partners was founded on the core principle of expanding patient access to high-quality care. Centre Partners provided substantial resources which helped us to quickly achieve that goal while assembling a large group of highly productive and experienced clinical providers. From this well-established base, I believe Vision Innovation Partners is positioned for future success.”
Centre Partners and Vision Innovation Partners were advised by Moelis & Company, Coker Capital Securities LLC, Dechert LLP and Arent Fox LLP.
About Centre Partners
Founded in 1986, Centre Partners is a leading middle-market private equity firm focusing on the consumer and healthcare sectors, with offices in New York and Los Angeles and over $2.5 billion of equity capital invested in more than 85 transactions. Centre Partners seeks to partner with founders, families, entrepreneurs and management teams to build exceptional businesses. Centre Partners provides management teams access to its unique resources, which includes an extended network of experienced and proven operating executives. Additional information is available at www.centrepartners.com.
About Vision Innovation Partners
Vision Innovation Partners is a leading provider of ophthalmology and optometry services in the Mid-Atlantic region with a growing network of physicians providing world-class patient care. Based in Annapolis, Maryland and with more than 140 providers across 63 clinical locations and 11 ASCs, the Company provides a comprehensive suite of eye care services across Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia and Pennsylvania. Additional information is available at www.visioninnovation-partners.com.
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