// Pets at Home sells 5 specialist veterinary businesses for £100m to rival Linnaeus Group
// News comes a day after the retailer revealed it had bought telephone & video appointment service The Vet Connection
Pets At Home has sold its specialist veterinary business for £100 million to rival Linnaeus Group, the pet goods specialist retailer has revealed.
Bosses said the deal will allow Pets At Home to focus on customer-facing activities across their stores and services through their First Opinion vet services.
The five sites being sold to Linnaeus, which is part of Mars Petcare, are Dick White Referrals in Cambridgeshire, Anderson Moores in Hampshire, Northwest Veterinary Specialists and Eye Vet in Cheshire, and Veterinary Specialists Scotland in Livingston, Scotland.
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The deal will see Pets At Home receive £80 million in cash on competition – expected early next year – and a further £20 million if certain financial targets are hit.
“This disposal does not deviate from our core focus of providing customers with affordable, convenient, engaging and flexible pet care solutions through our growing online platform,” Pets at Home chief executive Peter Pritchard said.
He also pointed out that Pets At Home already has 440 First Opinion veterinary practices, which tend to be found inside stores.
Pets At Home has been pushing to offer more services inside its warehouse-style stores, with services including grooming parlours, while online services include dog walking and cat sitting bookings.
The move comes a day after the retailer revealed it had bought telephone and video appointment vets business The Vet Connection, as more pet owners turn to online services during the Covid-19 pandemic,
“Linnaeus is a well-regarded operator of veterinary practices with a strong and established track record of practice management,” Pritchard said.
“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.”
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