York veterinary service undergoes further expansion following successful acquisition

VetPartners has undergone further expansion following the acquisition of a mixed practice with one of Scotland’s largest equine hospitals.

This week, Clyde Veterinary Group, which has four sites in Lanark, Wishaw, Auchenheath and Stirling, joined VetPartners. This follows on from the recent news that the firm has also acquired LLM Farm Vets.

With a team of 10 vets, two nurses, two nursing assistants and a groom, providing a 24-hour service for horse owners across central and southern Scotland, Clyde Veterinary Group has the largest equine hospital north of the border.

VetPartners’ CEO, Jo Malone, said: “We are delighted to welcome Clyde Veterinary Group to VetPartners as they are a highly respected, large mixed practice.

“They strengthen our presence in Scotland and show we are committed to attracting some of the best veterinary businesses across all species, both in the UK and Europe.

“After building up a strong base of small animal practices, we are committed to growing our mixed, farm and equine groups, which will bring benefits of scale, local support for our teams and access to a wide range of excellent specialist services.”

Clyde Veterinary Group also has a team of 14 farm vets, working between two centres in Stirling and Lanark, providing a 24-hour service to the farming community in Lanarkshire and Stirlingshire.

Its small animal team is based at Lanark, Wishaw and Auchenheath.

More than 100 of the UK’s most trusted veterinary practices are part of the York-based group, which now owns four of the UK’s equine hospitals.

Liphook Equine Hospital in Forest Mere, Hampshire, Rainbow Equine Hospital in Malton, North Yorkshire, and Ashbrook Equine Hospital in Knutsford, Cheshire, are already part of VetPartners.

Trevor Hamilton, director at Clyde Veterinary Group, added: “We had been discussing the future of UK veterinary practices for some time, before coming to the decision to join with the VetPartners family of practices.

“We believe that this is a natural part of the evolution of our practice. Of the opportunities available to us, we had the most synergy with VetPartners and already knew of a number of like-minded practices that have taken the same step.

“We strongly believe the collaboration between ourselves and this new, wider family of practices, with their progressive commitment to mixed practice, will lead to significant synergies between our organisations.”

KPMG Corporate Finance advised Clyde Vets on the sale of the business to VetPartners.