To All,
The following is the "Summit Technology Vision Center" acquisition report (dtd 7/23/97).
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SUMMIT TO SELL VISION CENTER SUBSIDIARY TO LCA-VISION
WALTHAM, Mass., July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Technology, Inc.
(Nasdaq-NNM: BEAM) announced today that LCA-Vision Inc. (Nasdaq: LCAV)
has agreed to acquire all the outstanding stock of Refractive Centers
International, Inc. (RCII) a Summit subsidiary which owns and operates
Summit's Vision Center business. In exchange, LCA will issue
approximately 17 million shares of LCA-Vision's common stock,
approximately 9 million of which Summit intends to distribute to its
shareholders as soon as practical after the closing and registration of such shares by LCA. The remaining shares, which represent
approximately 20 percent of LCA's outstanding shares, will be held by
Summit. Summit has agreed that RCII will have a cash balance of $10
million on the closing date.
Ronald Herskowitz, Executive Vice President of RCII, will join LCA's
Board of Directors and will serve as LCA's Chief Operating Officer,
reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stephen Joffe.
This transaction is subject to several conditions, including
Hart-Scott- Rodino compliance and the closing of bank financing by LCA.
LCA's common stock currently trades on Nasdaq Small Cap under the
symbol LCAV. Post closing, LCA will have approximately 36 million
shares outstanding.
RCII currently owns and operates 19 vision centers across the country,
each equipped with a Summit excimer laser. In addition to the 19 free-standing centers, six "centers of excellence" are located at
prestigious university medical centers, hospitals in selected
geographic markets. When the transaction is completed, LCA-Vision will have over 40 vision correction centers in the U.S., Canada and Europe, making it one of the nation's largest providers of laser vision correction.
Commenting on the transaction, Robert Palmisano, Chief Executive
Officer of Summit, stated: "We believe that this transaction will serve the best interests of Summit shareholders, as we complete our commitment to our customers not to be directly involved in the same business as they are. The transaction will allow Summit to focus on building laser vision correction procedure volume, as well as the other aspects of our business.
"We wish Dr. Joffe and LCA much success and thank Ron Herskowitz and
all RCII employees for their many contributions while members of the
Summit team."
Cautionary Statement Under "Safe Harbor" Provisions Of The Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act Of 1995: Statements made in this news release contain information about the Company's future business
prospects. These statements may be considered "forward-looking." These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied forward-looking statements. For further information regarding
cautionary statements and factors affecting future operating results,
please refer to Summit's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 1996. SOURCE Summit Technology, Inc.
-0- 7/23/97 /CONTACT: Paula L. Elliott,
Investor Relations of Summit Technology, Inc., 617-672-0517/
(BEAM LCAV)
CO: Summit Technology, Inc.; LCA-Vision Inc. ST: Massachusetts IN:
MTC SU: TNM
--END OF REPORT--
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Harry's comment:
This report is fundamentally bullish, and if LCA-Vision can continue to grow, the share price should show this growth. |
