BMC Industries gets court OK to sell Vision-Ease assets to Insight Equity

By Jeff Pines

Washington, Aug. 27 - BMC Industries Inc. said it obtained court approval Thursday to sell its Vision-Ease Lens unit to private equity firm Insight Equity A.P.X. LP for $56.5 million, which was $11.5 million more than Insight's stalking horse bid.

BMC expects the sale to close in September.

The order approving the sale was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota on Thursday.

"We are excited about our new investment in Vision-Ease Lens," said Ted Beneski, chief executive officer and managing partner of Insight Equity Partners LP, in a news release.

"Vision-Ease has a strong stable of patented products and processes, an experienced management team and strong relationships with its customers and suppliers, which we and our partner The Rosewood Corp. look forward to building on in the years ahead," he said.

Vision-Ease Lens, a leading manufacturer of eyewear lenses, is based in Ramsey, Minn. The company employs 1,200 people worldwide with manufacturing facilities in Ramsey and Jakarta, Indonesia.

BMC is in the late stages of winding down the former operations of its Buckbee-Mears group, which ceased manufacturing earlier this year. In July, the company agreed to sell the assets of its Buckbee-Mears group to International Electron Devices (USA) LLC.

BMC filed for Chapter 11 on June 23. Its Chapter 11 case number is 04-43515.

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