In a blog post a couple of days ago we re-visited our earlier analysis of ownership concentration in UK vet care to take account of the CMA’s findings on CVS’s acquisition of The Vet. (The CMA has competition-related concerns in five of the eight local markets where The Vet has practices.) We concluded, subject to…

The CMA has thrown a very large spanner into CVS’s acquisition of The Vet with adverse findings in five of the eight areas where The Vet has practices. CVS will likely have to sell all five practices unless it opts for a more detailed second phase investigation by the CMA and gets a better outcome….

The CMA intervened for the first time in the vet sector last Friday, calling in CVS’s acquisition of The Vet for review. The vet sector has consolidated rapidly in recent years with large corporate chains acquiring many practices formerly owned by vets. New corporate owners have been willing to invest significant sums in premises and…

The Financial Times has drawn on Aldwych Partners’ analysis as it highlights the rapid changes taking place in the vet care industry and the increasing presence of vet care chains in numerous local markets across the UK. It says “as of 2020, the latest figures available, there were 29 local areas of the UK ……

Vet care in the UK appears to be reaching a tipping point. Spiralling fees, insurance that is unattractive or unaffordable, and profoundly unhappy pet owners may well be the future without concerted action. The (hopefully) short-term disruption created by Covid-19 is not the main cause for concern. Rather, it is two longer-term trends, namely increasingly…