Clairfield advises National Veterinary Care on sale to VetPartners

ASX-listed National Veterinary Care Ltd, the Australian and New Zealand veterinary services provider sold 100% of the issued share capital of NVC by way of scheme of arrangement to VetPartners, another provider of veterinary services.

VetPartners now holds all the shares on issue in NVC, and NVC has been delisted from the ASX. The scheme consideration of AU$3.70 cash per NVC share represents a 59.5% premium to the 1-month VWAP of AU$2.32. The transaction values National Veterinary Care at a fully diluted market capitalization of AU$251.5 million and an enterprise valuation of approximately AU$325.5 million.

National Veterinary Care is an ASX-listed company, engaged in providing veterinary services. The Gold Coast-based company owns over 100 veterinary services businesses across Australia and New Zealand, comprising veterinary clinics, training centers, and a managed service offering. The business listed on the ASX in August 2015 with 34 clinics and grew rapidly to become one of the major veterinary services aggregators in Australia and New Zealand.

Australian Veterinary Owner’s League Pty Ltd, trading as VetPartners, is engaged in providing veterinary services, backed by US-based National Veterinary Associates (NVA) and Netherlands-based Luxembourg investment holding company JAB Holdings. Prior to the deal, VetPartners owned over 125 practices in Australia and New Zealand.

With the acquisition of NVC, VetPartners becomes the largest veterinary services provider in Australia and New Zealand.

The combined entity is focused on growing its networks of community veterinary practices while preserving the legacy, brand, and culture of each clinic in the group as they continue to build a best-in-class veterinary practice offering across Australia and New Zealand.

VetPartners and NVL have complementary networks. For instance, VetPartners’ current support offices are in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, presenting opportunities for the combined group to build a more national support office infrastructure leveraging the NVL support offices in the Gold Coast, Melbourne, and Auckland.

InterFinancial, Clairfield International’s Australian partner, acted as lead financial advisors to National Veterinary Care.

Clairfield’s industry expertise was instrumental in assessing the target’s business plan and finding possible synergies. The understanding of sector dynamics and the local M&A market (both private equity and financial investors) also contributed to the determination of the seller’s priorities and identification of genuine competitors in the process.

This was enhanced by the wider Clairfield International team through which InterFinancial was able to rapidly reach out across the globe and identify strategic and private equity buyers likely to be interested in NVC.