Acquisitive York vet group snaps up equine business
Acquisitive York-based veterinary group, VetPartners, has acquired a Scottish business focused on the equine sector.
The company has bought the owners of one of Scotland’s biggest equine hospitals, the Clyde Veterinary Group. It has four sites in Lanark, Wishaw, Auchenheath and Stirling. Clyde has dozens of vets and nursing assistants, as well as a small animal team.
VetPartners has been investing heavily in acquisitions in the past year. More than 100 veterinary practices across the UK are part of the group.
It’s been focusing on its equine offering, and already owns four specialist hospitals including Liphook Equine Hospital inHampshire, Rainbow Equine Hospital in Malton, North Yorkshire and Ashbrook Equine Hospital in Knutsford, Cheshire.
VetPartners CEO Jo Malone said: “They [Clyde Group] strengthen our presence in Scotland and show we are committed to attracting some of the best veterinary businesses across all species, both in the UK and Europe.
“After building up a strong base of small animal practices, we are committed to growing our mixed, farm and equine groups, which will bring benefits of scale, local support for our teams and access to a wide range of excellent specialist services.”
Trevor Hamilton, director at Clyde Veterinary Group, said: “We had been discussing the future of UK veterinary practices for some time, before coming to the decision to join with the VetPartners family of practices. We believe that this is a natural part of the evolution of our practice.
“Of the opportunities available to us, we had the most synergy with VetPartners and already knew of a number of like-minded practices that have taken the same step.”
KPMG Corporate Finance advised Clyde Vets on the sale of the business to VetPartners.
Christian Mayo, corporate finance partner at KPMG, said: “The spate of M&A activity that we have supported in the veterinary sector reflects a wider trend towards consolidation in the economy.
“Acquisitions provide a great platform to snap up market share, as well as gain access to new geographies and expertise. The continuing and encouraging pace of transactions is an indication that corporates remain determined to seek growth opportunities and the benefits of scale.”
VetPartners has 104 veterinary practices, with 4,600 employees working in nearly 400 sites across the UK and from its headquarters in York. The group diversified during 2018 to include a veterinary nursing school, laboratories, research dairy and locum agency.
For the year to 30 June 2018, VetPartners Limited made revenues of £8m, nearly double the £4.3m revenues in the same period the year before.
Its acquisitive strategy has caused further pre-tax losses however. It reported a pre-tax loss in the year to June of £13.9m, compared to a loss of £4.5m the year before.
