Britton Vision Associates (“BVA”) – a leading provider of ophthalmologic care with locations throughout central Oklahoma – has partnered with Vision Integrated Partners.
This partnership will allow BVA to accelerate its growth strategy while creating expanded opportunities for its patients and providers. BVA’s team of doctors and surgeons offer expert eye care for refractive disorders, conditions relating to the aging eye, diabetes and high blood pressure, treatment for eye injuries, dry eye, and sudden onset diseases. BVA also offers medical and surgical treatment of glaucoma and corneal disease, blepharoplasties, corneal transplants, LASIK, and other specialized medical and surgical eye treatments. Because of their superior standard of care, experienced staff and leading eye surgery services within these specialized-fields, doctors across Oklahoma refer their patients to BVA.
The Goal
Like many, Dr. Brad Britton, founder of BVA, had been evaluating the future direction of the practice and what options were available to the group. They wanted to grow and build on their success, but the complexity, capital costs, and overall challenges of growing a practice were mounting.
BVA engaged the Cascade team to help assess their options and educate them on implications and potential impact of each option. Cascade would then help execute a plan that fit their goal of finding a partner with the capital and insight to help them grow while influencing how that would look in Central and Western Oklahoma.
The Cascade Advantage
Cascade Partners excels at looking beyond a client’s immediate objectives and helps them understand the impact on their long-term expectations and desires. Cascade accomplishes this while ultimately driving the highest value for the client and helping them achieve a fully supported and sustainable outcome.
The Cascade team researched multiple paths to execute BVA’s broader growth plans while increasing its value and maintaining its exceptional standard of patient care. Cascade helped BVA explore and understand each option. Ultimately, the team determined finding a partner for BVA with experience expanding a successful clinical practice, with the capital to support growth, and with a strong understanding of the potential for a meaningful presence in Oklahoma was the best option. A qualified partner could help with the resources and scale needed to support its long-term growth goals, attract additional talented physicians, and maintain its culture.
Cascade ran a deeply researched, targeted process to select potential partners that supported the strategy of growing within Oklahoma and attracting new physicians. The team knew a partnership with BVA would allow the right partner to capture a significant market segment with the addition of its exceptional physicians, treatments, processes, and standard of patient care.
Vision Integrated Partners (“VIP”) emerged as an ideal candidate. An established national platform in the eye care sector, they partner with market-leading ophthalmologists to provide the skills and resources necessary to empower local leadership to elevate its partners to the next level.
Cascade Partners negotiated a structure that created critical buy-in and motivation for up-and-coming associate physicians and all shareholders. Most banks concentrate on the equity integration of the founding equity partners. The Cascade team extended their focus to ensure the associates were equity integrated with VIP for the long term. This added depth proved transformational in driving the transaction to a successful close.
To support the transaction, Cascade completed a variety of ad hoc analyses to fully recognize the value of the practice, help junior physicians understand the long-term economic opportunity for them, and ensure all parties appreciated what the practice offered to a broader group. The Cascade team also led real estate lease negotiations – worked with legal counsel and accounting consultants, coordinated tax advisors, and generated value for active growth initiatives launched to support the expansion of services, geographic reach, and efficiency.
The Result
Holistically viewing a transaction helps Cascade drive value beyond the letter of intent – it’s part of the Cascade Advantage and helps achieve results that exceed clients’ expectations.
Cascade Partners negotiated a partnership that will help BVA grow into the future while realizing the value of its legacy. The Cascade team led the transaction from initial discussions with the partner to a successful closing in 120 days.
By quarterbacking the entire process, Cascade engaged shareholders and obtained buy-in, found the right partner to help BVA achieve its vision, and exceeded BVA’s valuation expectations.
Cascade Partners served as the exclusive advisor to Britton Vision Associates.