Private Equity is buying up veterinary clinics and pet hospitals: a "Future-Proof Enterprise" [View all]

[Auggie]

Entrepreneur.com / January 27, 2021

A satisfactory return for private equity firms is 3x over three-to-five years. Veterinary consolidators easily exceed this figure, often generating a 4-5x return. It’s a profitable business — people care about their pets more than they care about their own health. According to a New York Times article, while utilization of human healthcare services dropped by an estimated $15 billion during the pandemic, animal hospitals reported increases in their volume and revenue.

As private capital continues fueling veterinary consolidation and enterprises are urged to start generating as much profit as quickly as possible, it’s time to discover ways of creating value post-acquisition. For starters, here are four questions to consider.

How do we integrate and operate practices to get the highest ROI? The veterinary healthcare market in the US is fragmented, remaining an attractive playground for corporate chains and their investors. In America, more than $31 billion of the $38 billion vet market is privately owned.

As corporatization continues, 25 percent of veterinary practices are expected to be consolidated by 2023 and will represent 50 percent of veterinary visits. Even the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t discouraged acquisitions and we have seen some major deals in 2020, such as Berkshire Partners acquisition of VetStrategy for over $1.4 billion.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/362267

Sister thread to earlier post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215905879

Why is there a shortage of care? Why are animals dying? Why are veterinarians and veterinarian nurses turning suicidal?

Five will get you ten private equity is behind it all. It's about return on investment.