Alphaeon Corp. keeps on making deals.
The Irvine-based company recently struck agreements to buy two companies in the ophthalmology and healthcare technology markets, respectively.
Alphaeon is paying up to $59 million for device maker Lensar Inc. and an undisclosed sum for software maker Integrity Digital Solutions LLC.
The company has used a variety of other deals to grow in its just-over-two-year history, including buys of doctor-prescribed skin care lines and software.
Privately held Alphaeon concentrates on what it calls “lifestyle medicine,” which encompasses products and services that are not paid for by health insurance.
Orlando, Fla.-based Lensar makes laser devices for cataract surgeries.
“Lensar is a company that I’ve known for some time, because while I worked at Bausch & Lomb, I looked at the technology. I thought the technology then was very promising,” Robert Grant, Alphaeon’s chief executive, said in an interview at Alphaeon’s office on Von Karman Avenue.
Lensar’s devices enable the automation of “several critical surgical procedure planning and [delivery] elements,” the company said.
Grant said Lensar’s device is mobile, which differentiates it from other eye laser devices.
“The femtosecond [laser] category is intended for precision vision, or premium outcome vision, and that’s right in the center of our sweet spot in self-pay healthcare,” Grant said.
Self-pay healthcare could help ophthalmologists who want to stay independent and decrease dependence on insurance companies and government programs, he said.
He also said that Alphaeon’s doctor customers had given Lensar lasers positive ratings on Alphaeon’s ShoutMD social media network.
“They specifically requested and rated the Lensar laser system as the very, very high product and wanted to be able to gain access to purchasing it,” Grant said. “When your customer asks for something, our focus is always to deliver and serve them.”
Alphaeon’s deal for Integrity brings electronic medical records software for ophthalmologists and optometrists delivered through cloud computing.
Integrity’s software will be “married up” with the Alphaeon Suite, which is software used by doctors to run their practices, Grant said. Alphaeon Suite includes software that addresses financial issues, consumer relationship management, inventory tracking and other matters.
Financing
Alphaeon will be looking at adapting Integrity’s EMR software for other specialties, such as plastic surgery and dermatology.
The company also recently closed a second round of private placement stock financing for an undisclosed amount.
Grant said part of the proceeds is going to be used toward paying for the two new deals and mentioned that doing it allows Alphaeon to add a cash or unsecured debt component to any potential deals.
Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital led the transaction. Other participants included Costa Mesa-based H&S Ventures LLC, Longitude Capital in Menlo Park, and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, which also is in Hong Kong.
Crown Sterling
Alphaeon’s parent company, Newport Beach-based Strathspey Crown LLC, established Crown Sterling, a New York-based investment management and financial services company, this year. Crown Sterling serves specialty physicians with a variety of offerings, including a doctor-focused pension fund.
“Every other professional group has a pension fund in some way, shape or form—police have it, firemen have it, [and] teachers in Wyoming have it,” Grant told the Business Journal earlier this year.
“There are 1.3 million specialty doctors around the world, and we are intensely focused on serving their needs,” he said. “We know that asset management is one of those needs. We were asked by our physicians to provide this as a service to them.”
