Vet group expands West Midlands operations in £11m deal
The UK’s leading provider of integrated veterinary services has expanded following an £11m acquisition that includes four outlets in Stoke-on-Trent.
CVS has acquired the entire share capital of Albavet and its wholly owned subsidiary, VETisco, which together comprise the Albavet Group.
The Albavet Group employs 34 professional vets and more than 150 staff across its three separate businesses, which comprise: 11 veterinary surgeries; a veterinary buying group, trading under the name of Vetshare; and an instrumentation business trading under the name of VETisco.
The veterinary surgeries are well established businesses and are based in the Fife area (four sites), Glasgow (one site), Nottingham (one site), the Stoke-on-Trent area (four sites) and Wallington, Surrey (one site). The surgeries perform small animal work.
The Vetshare buying group currently has more than 400 members operating from over 500 surgeries across the UK. Vetshare negotiates supplier rebates on behalf of its members and generates its revenues based on commission on members’ purchases from wholesalers. It also sources and negotiates other veterinary services for its members, including crematoria and laboratory work.
The VETisco instrumentation business is a small distribution business started in 2012. It currently makes a small loss.
The total payable to the shareholders of Albavet is £11.3m, which includes costs. This figure is subject to adjustment based on the working capital and indebtedness of Albavet at the date of acquisition. In addition CVS will acquire net debt of approximately £0.1m with Albavet. Intangible assets and goodwill of approximately £11.6m are expected to arise on completion of the deal, which was funded through the group’s new bank facilities.
Simon Innes, CVS chief executive, said: “The Albavet Group is a well-established, high quality operation. This acquisition significantly develops our surgeries in central Scotland and in the Midlands. The Vetshare buying group provides a major step forward in our strategy of developing a significant buying group which can benefit from the scale and scope of CVS.”
CVS has also acquired the entire share capital of The Pet Crematorium, which consists of two crematoria: the first is located at Witton Gilbert, near Durham and the second is at Larkhall, near Hamilton.
