Pets at Home sells five specialist referral practices
Pets at Home has sold its five specialist referral practices to veterinary group Linnaeus for a cash consideration of up to £100 million.
The retailer said the move is part of plans to focus group resources on customer-facing activities across its retail and First Opinion veterinary operations.
The deal has included the sale of Dick White Referrals in Cambridgeshire, Anderson Moores in Hampshire, Northwest Veterinary Specialists in Cheshire, Eye Vet in Cheshire and Veterinary Specialists Scotland in Livingston.
A subsidiary of Mars Veterinary Health, Linnaeus Group operates over 150 veterinary clinics across the UK.
The disposal is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2021.
Peter Pritchard, Pets at Home group chief executive, said: “The disposal represents a great outcome for all of our stakeholders. Linnaeus is a well-regarded operator of veterinary practices with a strong and established track record of practice management. We hold them in high regard, and they will be a great home for our highly-skilled colleagues in the Specialist Group, underpinned by an ongoing commitment to specialist multi-disciplinary veterinary care, supported by Mars.
“For our First Opinion Joint Venture Partners and Retail colleagues, the disposal allows realignment of financial and operational resource to support them in doing even more for our customers and their pets. For our shareholders, the disposal proceeds provide the group with additional resource to accelerate growth across our customer-focused pet care platform.”
