Employee-owned veterinary group Pennard Vets has expanded its operation with the acquisition of Priory Lodge Vets, a practice based in Tonbridge, Kent.
Founded over 70 years ago, Priory Lodge Vets was formerly owned by two of its veterinary surgeons, Dr Abby Pye and Dr Dirk Brink, who will both stay and continue to lead the practice following the acquisition. Priory Lodge Vets has a client base encompassing more than 4,500 pets.
Pennard Vets was founded in Sevenoaks, Kent, in 1895 and has seven practices throughout Kent in Allington, Borough Green, Langley Park, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and West Malling. In 2021, Pennard Vets became the largest practice in the world to be transferred into employee ownership, within an employee ownership trust (EOT), meaning all employees are now stakeholders in the business, and was also first veterinary practice in Europe to become B-Corp certified.
Pye said: “We are very excited to join Pennard Vets and become part of the employee-ownership trust (EOT). Based on Pembury Road for the last 44 years, we have evolved and grown over the years, but the one thing that has always remained consistent is our commitment to putting the welfare of our clients’ pets first.
“All the familiar and friendly faces our clients know, and love will remain the same, but the partnership with Pennard Vets will also allow us to expand our range of services to our valued clients.”
Matthew Flann, from Pennard Vets, said: “We have always had a good relationship with Priory Lodge Vets, and when Covid hit, we started working more closely with them, assisting with out of hours care, and we quickly found that our values were closely aligned between the teams.
“Dirk brings additional surgical strengths to our team, which our clients will benefit from, and Abby is a talented medic, with great clinical skills as well as a strong interest in cardiology, that will also be of huge benefit to the group.”
As part of the acquisition process, Pennard Vets secured a re-financing deal with Shawbrook Bank and was advised by Castle Corporate Finance.
