United Vision Partners, a leading network of comprehensive eye care providers and a portfolio company of Waud Capital Partners, has announced that accomplished healthcare industry executive Sami Abbasi has joined as Chief Executive Officer and President.
“We are thrilled to have such a talented leader join United Vision,” said Dr. Richard Lindstrom, a board member of UVP and a founding physician at Minnesota Eye Consultants, UVP’s first partner practice. “Sami shares our belief in a core foundation of clinical excellence and a commitment to a culture of growth and differentiation. This is an important step in establishing UVP as the preferred partner for leading eye care providers.”
Mr. Abbasi brings over thirty years of experience growing businesses in the physician practice and multi-site healthcare markets. Most recently, he served as the CEO of PhyMed Healthcare Group, a leading provider of anesthesiology practice management services across the U.S. He previously held CEO positions for successful publicly-traded and private equity-backed healthcare providers in the radiology, surgery center and pathology markets. “I am honored to join UVP at this exciting point in the organization’s history. We have a tremendous opportunity to build the leading community of integrated eye care providers and I’m looking forward to supporting our physician partners in that endeavor,” said Mr. Abbasi.
Waud Capital Partners formed United Vision Partners in connection with its initial partnership with Minnesota Eye Consultants in January. Chris Graber, a Principal with Waud Capital and a board member of UVP commented, “We’re focused on partnering with leading physician practices in the eye care market. To be successful, we want our executive talent to be as accomplished as our medical talent. Sami has shown this repeatedly throughout his career, so we’re excited to welcome him to the team.”
About United Vision Partners
United Vision Partners was formed to partner with leading eye care providers in targeted markets throughout the United States. The company provides management and support services to ophthalmology and optometry practices, as well as single-specialty eye surgery centers. UVP established its first partnership with Minnesota Eye Consultants in January 2017. MEC operates through a network of six offices in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, including four which operate ophthalmology-focused ambulatory surgery centers.
About Waud Capital Partners
Based in Chicago, Waud Capital is a leading private equity firm founded in 1993 that partners with exceptional management teams to acquire or create platforms in the U.S. lower middle market through control-oriented growth equity investments, industry consolidation, buyouts or recapitalizations. WCP seeks to invest $50 million to $150 million (including follow-on investments) of total equity in each platform company and employs a disciplined three-phase investment strategy with staged investments designed to generate superior risk-adjusted returns. Waud Capital targets services businesses in large, growing, fragmented markets within two industries: healthcare services and business and technology services. Typically, the initial platform companies in which Waud Capital invests have enterprise values between $50 million and $250 million. WCP has approximately $1.8 billion in assets under management. Since its founding, Waud Capital has successfully completed more than 200 investments, including platform companies and follow-on opportunities.
For additional information on WCP, visit the firm’s website at www.waudcapital.com.
