Merger Update: IVC/Various vet businesses

CMA to look at Independent Vetcare Limited's undertakings offer in detail

Completed acquisitions by Independent Vetcare Limited (IVC) of eight independent veterinary businesses

On Friday 3 March 2023, the CMA announced that it is or may be the case that each of the following mergers has resulted or may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom. Namely, IVC's acquisitions of:

·    Penrose Veterinary Group Limited;

·    Kevin Castle (Pet Care) Ltd;

·    Swayne & Partners Topco Limited (including Swayne & Partners Ltd);

·    Treforest Vets (Holdings) Limited (including Treforest Veterinary Clinic Ltd);

·    Mercer & Hughes Limited;

·    Swaffham Veterinary Centre Limited;

·    Anglesey Pet Clinic Ltd; and

·    Chiltern Equine Clinic (including Chiltern Veterinary Services Limited & Chiltern Bury Farm Limited).

On Friday 24 February 2023, IVC offered undertakings to the CMA which involve divesting each of the businesses listed above. The CMA has considered the undertakings offered and today announced that it considers that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertakings offered in relation to each of the acquisitions under investigation, or a modified version of them, might be accepted by the CMA to remedy the substantial lessenings of competition identified by the CMA in these cases.

The CMA now has until 3 May 2023 to decide whether to accept the undertakings, with the possibility to extend this timeframe to 30 June 2023 if it considers there are special reasons for doing so.

The text of this decision will be placed on the Competition and Markets Authority's website at https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases as soon as is reasonably practical.

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