Kobi Bessin quoted by Canadian Lawyer on the private equity acquisition of Canadian VetStrategy chain

Kobi Bessin was quoted by Canadian Lawyer magazine on the private equity acquisition of Canadian VetStrategy chain. 

As Covid-19 often caused some mergers and acquisitions to go off track or put on pause. Still, one transaction that did manage to come together smoothly during the pandemic was related to another phenomenon we saw in 2020 — the “petdemic” of people adopting or buying animals to keep them company while hunkered down.

Last summer, Boston-based Berkshire Partners (not Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway) acquired a 70 per cent majority interest in VetStrategy from Imperial Capital, in a deal valued at more than $1 billion. According to PE Hub, the price was closer to $1.4 billion, putting the deal at a valuation of 22 times VetStrategy’s annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), up from about three times EBITDA in 2013.

Kobi Bessin of Torkin Manes LLP, the lead lawyer for the team advising VetStrategy, says the rising interest in pet ownership because of the pandemic wasn’t a big factor in the price Berkshire ultimately paid. However, in recent years, pet ownership growth feeds into the notion that veterinary clinics are an essential healthcare service with a bright future.

To read the full article, please visit the Canadian Lawyer website.