U.S. Bankruptcy Court grants TLC Vision relief requested in its "First Day Motions"

Dec 24 2009

TLC Vision Corporation (NASDAQ: TLCV) (TSX: TLC), North America's premier eye care services company, today announced that further to its press release issued on December 21, 2009, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware has granted the relief the Company and two of its wholly-owned subsidiaries, TLC Vision (USA) Corporation and TLC Management Services Inc., requested in its "First Day Motions" filed in conjunction with its voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The Delaware Court issued a variety of orders on either a final or interim basis that will support business continuity for the Company throughout the restructuring process.

These orders include: approval for the use of $7.5 million of a $15 million debtor-in-possession financing facility; continued payment of wages, salaries and other employee benefits; and authority to use the Company's cash collateral. Additionally, the Company obtained the necessary relief from the Court to pay certain critical vendors in full.

The Company is seeking a recognition of the orders of the Delaware Court in a case commenced in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Canadian Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

As a result of these developments, the Company has been notified by the Toronto Stock Exchange that trading in its common shares has been suspended and the common shares will be delisted effective at the close of market on January 21, 2010. The Company previously announced that it had received a delisting notice from the NASDAQ Global Market and the Company has received a further letter informing it that the Company's common shares will be delisted as a result of the Chapter 11 proceedings in accordance with Listing Rules 5101 and 5110(b) and IM-5101-1. The shares will be delisted at the opening of business on December 28, 2009. The Company does not intend to appeal the delisting. Once the common shares are delisted, the Company expects that it will be eligible to trade on the OTC Bulletin Board.

For access to Court documents and other general information about the Chapter 11 cases, please visit http://chapter11.epiqsystems.com/tlcvision. In addition, we have established a restructuring hotline: 877-879-5075 for US and Canada callers, 503-597-7713 for International callers.