Affinity takes on EQT for $1b-plus VetPartners; buy-side mandates fly

afr.com:

There’s a dog fight brewing at up-for-grabs veterinary chain VetPartners.

Jefferies highlights VetPartners “successful M&A track-record resulting in 228 clinics acquired since 2016”. iStock

Street Talk can reveal Pan-Asian private equity investor, Affinity Equity Partners, has hired Macquarie Capital’s bankers to steer it through VetPartners’ fast-track auction being run by Jefferies with expectations of a circa $1.4 billion sale.

Affinity, which recently stocked up its local team with Mark Chudek from Quadrant Private Equity and Nick Speer from The Riverside Company, would have a $US6 billion fund raised earlier in the year to draw upon should it emerge as the winning bidder at VetPartners.

But first, it would have to fight off Swedish private capital giant EQT Partners, which arrived nice and early, and with plenty of overseas experience in pets and vets assets. Sources said EQT has also bankered up for the auction, with fingers pointing to Morgan Stanley as its adviser.

The two firms are undoubtedly the big dogs in the auction, although there are suggestions Permira Private Equity is also interested.

Sell-side adviser Jefferies has been shepherding suitors through a tight timetable, thanks to VetPartners’ global parent National Veterinary Associates’ plan to float the leftover business. Bidders were given only a few weeks to make up their minds about VetPartners and asked to lob non-binding indicative bids by end of August.

Clearly, the rapid-fire deadlines haven’t deterred deep-pocketed buyers. The question now is if Jefferies can squeeze out a circa $1.4 billion binding bid – that’s the multiple implied by TPG Capital’s sale of a 45 per cent stake in GreenCross last year.

VetPartners has 267 clinics in Australia,