Question:
Has anyone had any experiences with the LASIK-Vision Center in Washington,
D.C? Or any other LASIK-Vision locations.
I am considering having my lasik performed there, but have been unable to
find much information about them.
Answer:
Mississauga, Ontario, Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- TLC Laser Eye
Centers Inc., North America's biggest operator of eye-surgery
clinics, said most of its discount rivals have approached TLC
about buying them, one as recently as last week.
TLC wouldn't say which companies, only that the list over the
last six months includes ``just about every major player on the
discount end of our industry,'' TLC spokesman Stephen Kilmer said.
Some analysts have identified Canada's Lasik Vision Corp. and ICON
Laser Eye Centers Inc. as firms that want to be bought by TLC.
``Obviously, we have zero interest in taking any of them up
on the offer,'' Kilmer said. ``We don't see any opportunity to
achieve (our goals) through the discount model.''
Companies such as ICON and Lasik Vision charge about $500 an
eye, or about one quarter the price charged by TLC, for the
average surgery to correct common eye problems. The lower-priced
firms haven't been able to perform the procedure on enough
customers to make money since expanding into the U.S. over the
past year, analysts said.
Many lower-priced clinic operators are likely to seek mergers
or buyouts to stay in business, said Dave Harmon, an analyst at
St. Louis-based research firm Market Scope.
Companies such as Icon and Lasik ``are somewhat close to
insolvency, and probably are just searching for the capital to
continue,'' Harmon said.
Icon said the loss in its most recent quarter widened to
C$1.2 million ($79.7 million) from a year-earlier C$530,582. It
had C$2 million in cash and short-term investments as of Sept. 30.
Lasik had a third-quarter loss of C$2 million, compared with a
year-earlier profit of C$1 million.
Toronto-based ICON, which offered to acquire Lasik earlier
this month, has ``never'' approached TLC about being bought,
company president Ghassan Barazi said.
``There's no love affair between us and TLC,'' Barazi said in
an interview. ``We believe our business model is the right one,
and we certainly don't see any compatibility with TLC.''
Lasik Vision officials weren't immediately available to
comment.
TLC shares fell 15 cents to C$5.20 in midday Toronto trading.
ICON shares were unchanged at 55 cents, while Lasik was unchanged
at 33 cents.
