BENDIGO: Apiam Animal Health Limited has entered into binding agreements to acquire the assets of Victorian Equine Group and Romsey Veterinary Surgery. The total consideration for the acquisitions is $13.75 million.
Dr Chris Richards, Apiam’s Managing Director said, “We are pleased to announce these strategic acquisitions that further reflect our commitment to providing leading equine veterinary services while continuing our strategic regional expansion into fast-growth veterinary markets”.
“VEG will enable us to provide industry leading surgical and specialist skills to the broad range of equine markets we service in Victoria. Apiam now have a leading specialist cornerstone equine clinic location in each major East Coast state for our local clinics to use for expert referral. Romsey Veterinary Surgery adds an important mixed animal location in the fast growth corridor between Melbourne and Bendigo. We are looking forward to welcoming both veterinary clinic teams on board”.
Victorian Equine Group Pty Ltd (VEG) is a major provider of equine services including surgical, diagnostics, reproduction and hospitalisation and is considered amongst Australia’s market leaders for specialist surgical referral.
Located in Bendigo, VEG’s specialist equine hospital provides ambulatory services for racehorses, other performance horses and the equine pleasure market. VEG also has an additional base in the Goulburn Valley adjacent to Victoria’s main stud region. Overall, the business is strategically located to capture large and growing equine populations particularly in the Goulburn Valley and Macedon Ranges areas of Victoria. Growth in these regions has been strong in recent years, particularly as decentralization of capital city training facilities has occurred within the racing industry and large breeding operators have established their operations in regional Victoria.
VEG generates diversified revenues, with a wide spread of customers. No single customer accounts for more than 5% of total revenue. The business employs 25 FTE staff, including 12 veterinarians.
In FY22, VEG is projected to generate $5.5M of revenue which represents 20% growth year-on-year. This follows several years of strong financial growth.
Romsey Veterinary Surgery is a mixed animal and equine clinic located in the Melbourne to Bendigo growth corridor that predominantly services companion animals and animals from nearby farms.
The clinic business also benefits from a growing equine presence in the region. With 16 staff, including 6 veterinarians, the clinic has a strong track record of performance, with 28% revenue growth in FY21. Projected revenue for Romsey Veterinary Surgery is $3.3 million in FY22.
Apiam’s equine veterinary strategy
Apiam Animal Health currently operates two dedicated equine cornerstone clinics, in each of NSW and QLD through the acquisition of Scenic Rim Veterinary Services in Queensland (acquired 30 July 2021) and Agnes Banks Equine Clinic in NSW (acquired 1 December 2021). Both businesses are performing strongly under Apiam’s ownership.
VEG adds a third high-performance referral cornerstone equine clinic and provides Apiam Animal Health with a leading specialist equine presence down the East Coast. This acquisition will enable Apiam to further leverage its adjacent referral / feeder clinics, giving these clinics local access to industry leading skills and resources and also reduce the need for Apiam’s existing Victorian equine clinics to refer to third party equine specialists.