TLC plans to emerge from bankruptcy as private company

St. Louis, MO

-TLC Vision Corp. and two of its wholly owned subsidiaries, TLC Vision (USA) Corp. and TLC Management Services, are restructuring their debt through a pre-arranged Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. As part of its plans, the company has secured $15 million in financing and will sell six refractive centers in Canada.

Operations elsewhere are continuing. TLC Laser Eye Centers are not part of the filing. The company said it expects to emerge from bankruptcy as a private company.

“After evaluating a number of strategic alternatives with our board of directors and advisers, we decided that restructuring our debt through court protection was the best way to preserve the value of our business,” said Jim Tiffany, TLC Vision president and chief executive officer. “We expect to emerge swiftly from Chapter 11 with a stronger balance sheet and able to better capitalize on our industry leadership position.”

Court documents are accessible at

http://chapter11.epiqsystems.com/tlcvision

. The company also has establishing hotlines: 877/879-5075 for callers from the United States and Canada and 503/597-7713 for international callers.