Healthia entered into a trading halt on Friday in order to announce a material acquisition of The Optical Company.
This is a significant acquisition for HLA, with the purchase price of $43M being more than half of the market cap of HLA.
It is even more significant considering it is a step into the optical industry in which HLA previously had no presence.

The thesis for entering the industry and for the acquisition appear sound, however the size of the acquisition presents an integration risk.
HLA has always pursued an acquisitive strategy, however the acquisitions are usually individual practices which can be purchased on a low multiple and that will benefit from the scale and synergies of being a part of HLA. It will result in a change in corporate structure at HLA and a new 

The acquisition will be funded roughly by a $15M entitlement offer (accelarated institutional + retail), $15M debt, $3M cash and $10m worth of HLA shares issued to the vendor and placed in voluntary escrow.
HLA expect the acquisition to be approximately 15% earnings accretive in the first year.

Overall, whilst this acquisition adds risk to the investment thesis for this company, it looks to be a decent acquisition in an industry with long term tailwinds. It makes sense and i'm happy to give management the rope to execute on it and see how it goes.