The Competition and Markets Authority is investigating the completed acquisition of Quality Pet Care Ltd (trading as The Vet) by CVS Group.
The CMA said it was considering whether the transaction had led to a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the UK for goods or services.
To assist it with its assessment, the CMA is inviting comments on the transaction from any interested party.
Quality Pet Care, which has eight practices across the UK, was bought by CVS for a reported £20.4m on August 19.
CVS recently published its annual accounts, which showed a strong financial performance by the group.
The company, which owns more than 500 veterinary surgeries in the UK, Netherlands and Republic of Ireland, saw full year revenues rise by 19.2% to £510.1m, achieved through strong organic growth and also contributions from nine acquisitions. Pre-tax profits soared from £9.9m to £33.1m.
CEO Richard Fairman said: “We have delivered a very strong performance for the year with credit to every single one of our colleagues for their extraordinary efforts to provide the best possible service to our customers and their animals, against a difficult backdrop of restrictions and evolving regulatory guidance. These results demonstrate the resilience of our fully integrated veterinary model and our commitment to providing the very highest standards of clinical care.
“We continue to expand and develop our business, and, alongside our ongoing investments in high quality facilities and practices, we have welcomed a number of new vets and nurses to the Group, as demand for veterinary services continues to increase in light of rising pet ownership.
“We see a number of opportunities to grow the business, through favourable consumer trends, further improving our specialist offering and by continuing to make investment in support. Although management expectations for the full year are not based on attaining annual growth at the high levels of the first two months, the very positive start to the new financial year is encouraging. We remain focused on providing first class veterinary care and look forward with confidence.”
