Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) and OMERS Private Equity have agreed to sell National Veterinary Associates (NVA) to JAB Investors. Ares Management acquired NAV in July 2014 from Summit Partners which first invested in the company in 2007.
NVA is one of the largest veterinary and pet care services organizations in the world and provides a full range of veterinary services in more than 670 companion animal veterinary hospitals and 70 pet resorts across 43 states in the United States, as well as in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
NVA, with more than 14,000 employees and 2,600 veterinarians, was founded in 1996 and is led by CEO Greg Hartmann. The company is headquartered near Los Angeles in Agoura Hills, CA (www.nva.com).
NVA’s senior management, including Mr. Hartmann, will retain a minority stake in the business in partnership with JAB Investors. “I want to thank the Ares team and OMERS for their outstanding partnership as we entered into new pet care lines including boarding and daycare, specialty and ER animal care, aftercare, equine, and expansion into several new countries,” said Mr. Hartmann. “Moving forward, we feel JAB Investors will be a great partner for us as we focus on our next phase of growth.”
“NVA is a world-class organization led by one of the best teams in the industry,” said David Bell, a partner at JAB Investors. “The company’s core strategic objective to support and invest in veterinarians and animal care teams, combined with its high-performance culture, has created an ecosystem which attracts exceptional people to provide the very highest level of veterinary care. We are excited to partner with the NVA community for the long-term as they continue building a global platform and leading the industry in innovation and quality of service.”
JAB Investors is privately held German conglomerate controlled by the Reimann family and is comprised of two investment vehicles, JAB Holding and JAB Consumer Fund. The firm invests in premium brands in the consumer category and has controlling stakes in Compassion-First Pet Hospitals, Keurig Dr Pepper, Panera Bread, Pret A Manger, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Caribou Coffee, and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, among others. JAB is headquartered in Luxembourg (www.jabholco.com).
In February 2019, JAB acquired Compassion-First Pet Hospitals from Quad-C Management at an enterprise value of $1.2 billion. Compassion-First is a provider of specialty, emergency and general veterinary care through a network of 41 hospitals and treatment facilities across 13 states. The company was founded in 2014 by CEO John Payne and is headquartered near New York in Tinton Falls, NJ (www.compassionfirstpets.com).
“We are grateful for the opportunity to have partnered with NVA’s outstanding management team,” said Bennett Rosenthal, co-founder, partner and co-head of the private equity group of Ares Management. “We are proud to have supported the company during its significant growth over the past five years as it extended its reach outside the US, accelerated its acquisitions, invested in new pet segments such as pet resorts, and became the largest independent veterinary platform globally. We want to thank OMERS Private Equity for their partnership on NVA and we wish the NVA team and its animal care teams continued success.”
Ares Management – with $137 billion in assets under management – invests in private equity, leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed debt and private debt. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices across the US and the world (www.aresmgmt.com).
OMERS Private Equity manages the private equity activities of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension funds with over C$97 billion in total net assets and private equity net assets of C$14 billion. OMERS is headquartered in Toronto with additional offices in London, New York, and Singapore (www.omers.com).
Jefferies was the financial advisor to NVA and William Blair & Company was the financial advisor to the selling shareholders.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.
© 2019 Private Equity Professional | June 17, 2019