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I agree with your post doc wholeheartedly and think Optec acquiring us bolsters their biz in a big way. I am new to public markets but after looking at the otc space I don’t see a lot of companies with revs over $100 mil let alone profitable. I don’t think people will ignore it for long
Crains NY article:
June 08, 2021 06:50 AM
For one restaurateur, the pivot to PPE ends with a $70M acquisition
CARA EISENPRESS
Michael Sinensky, who ran restaurants in New York City including Village Pourhouse and Sushi by Bou, shut them because of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions last year, but he made a quick business pivot to source and market personal protective equipment.
That proved more profitable for Sinensky than hospitality: He now has sold the business, WeShield, for $70 million in cash and stock to Optec International, a California-based public company. Under terms of the deal, he remains chief executive of WeShield, now an independent subsidiary of Optec.
“It’s the largest business I’ve ever run in my life,” he said of WeShield, which is a little more than a year old and facing a world where masks and hand sanitizer are not as necessary in everyday life. The business had sales of around $60 million last year and projects more than $100 million this year.
Optec currently trades at about 8 cents per share, though it jumped to 36 cents after it announced a $2 billion PPE and medical device contract. For the fourth quarter, Optec said, its revenue exceeded $11 million, a 1,000% increase over the previous quarter.
Sinensky said talks about the acquisition began after Optec contacted WeShield about supplying products for its clients.
That introduction followed a busy year. Last spring, as many New York City restaurants turned to new takeout or packaged products, New York companies from various industries pivoted to making or selling PPE, both as a business and for charity.
The race to supply city agencies with PPE created opportunities for fraud and failures, as inexperienced companies received contracts they could not fulfill. Since last year, the state has spent more than $20 million in incentives to companies investing in manufacturing vital supplies.
Sinensky said he filled out his own unemployment claims alongside the 250 people his restaurant group let go. But even then, he had endeavors outside of hospitality. Through a charity he had founded after Superstorm Sandy, he began trying to procure quality masks and other protective equipment in a market that had gotten crowded with subpar supplies. Seeing the demand, he tried to figure out the supply chain and a customer base in health care and retail.
With three partners—one from the hospitality business and two others who had worked at an artificial-intelligence marketing firm—Sinensky put in savings to help secure a mask order for a nursing home chain, which he knew as an investor in his restaurants. They found a carpet company in New Jersey that could make the masks, and the deal went through.
“People know people, especially when you have a couple decades of hustling in New York,” he said.
Altogether, the outlay to start WeShield was $250,000, he said.
Sinensky also had been involved in founding a lending firm, which was able to make loans to WeShield against the orders that were coming in.
That was followed by a contract to provide employees and residents at New York City Housing Authority facilities with equipment at less than half the cost of what they had been paying. As the health crisis progressed, they followed the leads that came in, making gloves used for chemotherapy, medical gowns, sanitizer and rapid tests.
WeShield eventually learned to source through reputable manufacturers—a skill that became a central value of the company even as the health crisis has waned.
The company’s most valuable offering, Sinensky said, is its ability to find customers, especially outside the health care industry, who now need masks and sanitizer, using the company’s AI and marketing technology. Even after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that restaurants could drop most virus-related restrictions, Sinensky said he was sticking with the protective equipment business and was offering to send sample packs of masks, wipes and gloves to city resturants, in hopes that they would keep ordering the gear.
“I understand we are going to live a little differently in the future,” he said, but “cleaning products and disinfectant will still be here after Covid.”
Thank you
Thanks for the positivity
Nothing to refute. Our company is still open and we have a good standing letter from the state. This was part of the due diligence to be acquired.
It is wrong as per our bank account Which remains open and healthy. Bbb gets a lot of things wrong Unless you pay them. Then They’ll get things right. In regards to the previous smoke and mirrors post, Sorry to disappoint
Assure is the LLC and WeShield is the dba
That’s an Optec question re 8k. And or - we just did with the tweet :)
I’m the CEO of WeShield and my company was just acquired by Optec. I sporadically will be able to reply to messages here but if you need anything please feel free to email me michael@weshield.us
I can only answer anything that is public info as a heads up.
They acquired our company. WeShield is just a dba (doing biz as) or like a legal nickname.
People potentially losing money gets a response “lol” ?????
Isn’t it a big deal that a 7.3 billion dollar in annual sales company chose $70 million valued co WeShield to service them versus someone like cardinal health, McKesson, or medline that just sold for $35 BILLION. Doesn’t that say something??? We are building a company to produce major results quarterly/annually. If we continue on this path and remain a results driven company, I feel it in my heart that the gen public will not be able to ignore it.
WeShield / Optec lands deal to service QUEST nationally with PPE. ??
I agree and believe Optec MUST have audited financials asap
All revenue claims by WeShield are true and proven with a major accounting firm. Otherwise Optec wouldn’t have even been interested in our company. Next.
Answers to questions that has been publicly answered, I am answering to disseminate info better rather than letting misinformation spread. If I do not know the answer, nor can I answer, I say that.
Asking a private company to publicly show their reviewed / audited financials? Who would care to look?
This is NOT supposed to be public info and there’s precedent of so many public deals that discuss the terms after closing.
???? pin this one as the gotcha post!
One can email Optec directly and ask.
Terms of the acquisition cannot be disclosed yet.
We met Brett and deb at my sushi restaurant in the Versace mansion in Miami. This was part of our outreach to listen to stakeholders. I am listening and communicating still to try to help the company that is acquiring us in an effort to try to make things better. In response to the location you mentioned for this Optec info session, Hawaii sounds nice for the next one.
Something like this isn’t helpful but thanks
I believe Brett wants what many want - transparency
If only that wielded that much power.
WeShield owners, execs, or any employees (to my knowledge) do not own or trade a single share of Optec. As far as deal structure / protocols / procedures to follow, that will be gone over on the zoom call. Stakeholders have until tues eod to send questions, comments, concerns, ideas - you can send them to me directly michael@weshield.us
I believe hearing from OPTEC stakeholders and speaking to them real time is part of it. In addition overseeing my company’s heads of departments and biz dev. Thanks
In regards to this press release about OPTEC,
From asking stakeholders for comments, questions, ideas, concerns to compiling over 100 emails, to arranging a pre-recorded zoom call to go over them and the acquisition all within 48 hours, I’d say this is progress from so many of the complaints we have seen. Obviously it’s only a start of what’s to come with communication for Optec but it’s a start in the right direction. I believe results are more important for Optec and any company but proper communication (good and bad) is the foundation for a good pubco.
I like it. Send me an email with this so I can add it to the list of rev suggestions
Ah so it seems optec’s potential client base with the upcoming acquisition is even larger with even more room to grow than I originally thought. Thanks for the suggestions for more revenue.
Restaurant & hospitality industry. Check.
Working with metals. Check.
Construction. Check.
Keep em coming
mck.co/2RecGbl another crazy stat. PPE in USA was an approx $14.5 BILLION industry in 2019. Expected to rise to $24B by 2024.
WeShield - soon to be an Optec owned company - did over $55mm in ppe sales in 2020 in less than a year which represented approx 0.5% of US sales ($15B) if annualized.
I believe that these numbers are not usually associated these with OTC companies. I think these are far better.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/06/05/blackstone-group-nears-a-30-billion-deal-to-buy-medline-report-says.html?__twitter_impression=true
I believe this shows a ton of potential growth for Optec and WeShield. Ppe is (personal protective equipment) is a simple way to say medical supplies.
No congrats yet. Not finished. But thank you for the compliment
Hey all, same thing I did on all other forums. I am introducing myself here to get to know some / many of the OPTEC shareholders and use social as a way to communicate. With our deal almost across the goal line, I wanted to hear from many of you - whether I agree or not- on how you think things are going and where you’d like to see them.
Fair warning- if you are a hater for things in the past, keep it there with me. If you want to chat present and future, I will try to engage as much as humanly possible for a person running a $100+ mm company, a husband and father of 3. I won’t be checking the message boards often. Follow me on Twitter @msinensky. Or feel free to email me at michael@weshield.us
To the few of you who suggested I should stay away from social media, look away cuz you aren’t going to like me at all. #sorrynotsorry #OPTImistic
Best,
Michael Sinensky
WeShield, CEO