Established in 2011, Doncaster veterinary practice, The Pet Vet, was such a hit when it launched that over the next ten years it opened a further three practices in Barnsley, Rotherham, and Lincoln.
Spurred on by continued success and popularity, in 2022 it acquired The Vet (Quality Pet Care Limited) with established, purpose-built, surgeries in Warrington, Portsmouth, Southampton, Bristol, Nottingham, Liverpool, Morden, and Waltham Forest.
The company now employs over 270 people across its 12 locations.
However, Chairman and Founder, Dr Rob Jones, and Director, Dr Mel Fuller, have further ambitious plans.
Not only are they looking to establish new locations but also plan to offer more advanced treatments and unlock the use of technology to further enhance their customer service and patient care in state-or-the-art surgeries.
To enable them to do this they contacted the Yorkshire based, independent, specialist mid-market corporate finance boutique, Castle Square Corporate Finance.
Castle Square were able to secure £13m of new finance from HSBC to enable The Pet Vet to continue its growth trajectory and realise its ambitions.
Dr Mel Fuller said “We’re thrilled to have secured funding through HSBC to support our future growth aspirations. As we expand, our tried and tested model will provide the blueprint for establishing successful new surgeries to complement our existing estate.”
The deal was led by Josh Stokes of Castle Square, assisted by Partner Brad Green.
Brad said “This is a great outcome for a top-quality business built and led by Dr Rob Jones and Dr Mel Fuller that we are proud to have been able to assist. This unlocks significant opportunity for growth over the coming years for the team and we are looking forward to seeing it unlock this potential.
Many thanks to the team at HSBC who worked at pace to provide a flexible solution and to Claire Race of Race FD Solutions and Ian Parsons from Parson’s Accountants for their support in getting the deal over the line.”
Other advisers acting on the transaction included:
Blacks LLP, with Alex Hall providing legal advice on refinance.
Race FD Solutions, with Claire Race, the outsourced FD for The Pet Vet, putting together management information and extensive modelling.
Parsons Accountants, with Ian Parsons providing accountancy support.