EyeCare Providers, the largest network of clinically-integrated ophthalmology and optometry providers in the United States, has acquired Cincinnati-based CEI Vision Partners in a co-investment agreement from Hauser Private Equity.
EyeCare Partners itself is owned by a Swiss private equity firm, Partners Group Holding AG. As the nation’s leading provider of clinical eye care, the EyeCare Partners network represents more than 800 providers in the optometry and ophthalmology fields across 18 states.
By acquiring CEI Vision Partners, EyeCare Partners seeks to expand its presence in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions and expects to treat 3 million patients per year post-acquisition.
Mark Hauser, the managing partner of Cincinnati-based Hauser Private Equity, has leveraged his knowledge of several different industries and special-purpose funds to help companies grow and reach their full potential. The acquisition of CEI Vision Partners by EyeCare Partners is not the first investment that Hauser Private Equity has made in the healthcare sector, but is now one of the firm’s most notable acquisitions in the ophthalmology area.
CEI Vision Partners was founded by a partnership between Denver-based Revelstoke Capital Partners and the Cincinnati Eye Insitute in a bid to provide the support services ophthalmologists and optometrists required to effectively meet their patients’ needs and also grow their practice. Upon the formation of CEI Vision Partners in 2018, the practice aggressively grew under Mark Hauser’s guidance in seeking the right acquisition targets, strategic partnerships, and investment opportunities. CEI Vision Partners later acquired several notable local and regional eye care practices in the greater Cincinnati area, like Dayton Eye Associates.
Mark Hauser sought to recreate the prior success that Hauser Private Equity had with their co-investments with Revelstoke Capital Partners. Their two co-investments, OrthoAlliance (formerly Beacon Orthopedics) and Tampa-based DataLink, pursued similar aggressive strategies with targets and acquirers along the same verticals. With Revelstoke Capital Partners’ involvement in the formation of CEI Vision Partners, recreating the same strategies in the vision care sector provided the best options for rapid growth and maximizing returns.
“As soon as we initiated the conversation with EyeCare Partners, it was apparent that together, our organizations’ strengths and mission-driven cultures will expand on our ability to provide the highest level of vision care for our patients and better opportunities for our doctors and team members,” Clyde Bell, CEO of CEI Vision Partners stated in a press release on the oncoming acquisition. Being acquired by a larger vision care provider after a short period of acquiring smaller practices themselves only seemed like the next natural step in continuing to grow and evolve as a practice capable of serving millions of patients.
Upon completing the acquisition, the new entity formed by CEI Vision Partners and EyeCare partners now has almost 1,000 eye care providers comprised of over 280 ophthalmologists and 700 optometrists with 5,000 clinicians and 1,200 support staff members serving 18 different states.
