Cat out of the bag: $104 million-a-year VetPartners sends sale flyer

afr.com:

One of the country’s largest veterinary chains, VetPartners, is on the market – the latest in an industry that’s been rapidly consolidating and increasingly of interest to institutional investors.

And VetPartners is already a big fish in the sector, along with TPG Capital-backed Greencross in terms of market share. Street Talk can reveal its owner, National Veterinary Associates, the largest private owner of freestanding veterinary hospitals in the United States, has called in Jefferies to market the company. Of note, it is understood to be Jefferies’ New York bankers running the show.

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

Materials distributed to prospective buyers, and obtained by Street Talk, show VetPartners has 267 clinics between Australia, New Zealand and Singapore – 253 general practice locations and 14 emergency facilities – and revenues in the 12 months to June 30 of $661 million.

The company has “integrated 228 hospitals since 2016, superior reputation with veterinarians, dedicated acquisition and integration capabilities with a prioritised list of targets in a market that’s only 20 per cent consolidated,” the flyer reads.

In particular, Jefferies is keen to point out that VetPartners is “the only scaled player” in the sector, with more clinics than Greencross, and a 40 per cent compound annual growth rate since 2016.

It also has “established [business development] capabilities across all corporate functions which can quickly transition to ‘acquisition mode’,” the flyer reads.

VetPartners is slated to make clinic-level earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $131 million in the last financial year and is running at