08.06.17
Village Vet joins forces with Sovereign’s Linnaeus Group
Sovereign Capital, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, today announces that portfolio business, Linnaeus Group, the specialist veterinary group for small animals, has joined forces with Village Vet.
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This investment further consolidates the Group’s position as a leading veterinary services provider and makes it the fourth largest operator in the UK.
The Linnaeus Group was established following Sovereign’s 2014 platform investment in Willows Veterinary Centre and Referral Service, one of the largest and most highly regarded small animal specialist veterinary centres in the UK. Since then the Group has made 11 acquisitions including North Downs Specialist Referrals, Avonvale, Calder Vets and VRCC Specialist Referrals, diversified its offering and expanded its geographic reach across England.
Founded in 1988, Village Vet offers both first opinion and referral work across three clusters in North London, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The business, which provides a premium service to its customers, employs 275 staff and operates from 22 first opinion practices which include five 24hr hospitals. In addition they have a specialist referral centre for more complex cases.
The investment in Village Vet takes the combined group to 57 sites which includes 5 state-of-the-art specialist referral centres; a team of 950 including 250 highly experienced veterinary surgeons, and an enhanced breadth of specialist services which include: orthopaedics, ophthalmology, neurology, soft tissue surgery, internal medicine, oncology, dermatology and cardiology.
Brendan Robinson, CEO & Founder of Village Vet together with his fellow directors will continue to run and support the development of the business. Brendan will also join the Linnaeus Group board.
Village Vet is a high-quality, well invested business and we are delighted to welcome it to the Linnaeus Group. The team share an ethos and commitment to excellence and continued improvement which is highly visible across its operations and we look forward to building upon their successes, further expanding the Group and continuing to invest in the first class service offering.
Jonathan Kay, Director, Sovereign Capital Partners
Village Vet and its referral centre, London Vet Specialists complement our existing practices; this is a tremendous development for the Group. With Sovereign’s continued investment and support, we look forward to further consolidating our position in the UK market.
Lynne Hill, Chief Executive, Linnaeus Group
When looking for investment, there were a number of options open to us, however, we wanted to ensure we partnered with a group which had the same ethos and ethics as ourselves, who are dedicated to providing an excellent all-round service. We found that opportunity with Sovereign and Linnaeus.
Brendan Robinson, CEO & Founder, Village Vet
