Sunday 24 March 2024 2:27 pm
Private equity firms Advent International and CVC Capital have reportedly joined forces to bid for Partner in Pet Food (PPF), a pet food brand owned by Cinven.
Cinven is seeking around €2bn (£1.7bn) for the business, the Financial Times reported, which said talks were ongoing.
The business, which owns brands such as Prevital and Reno, was formed from a series of acquisitions between 2000 and 2006.
Private equity firm Cinven bought PPF in 2018. Advent previously acquired the business in 2011 before selling it to investment management group Pamplona Capital Management in 2015 for €315m (£271m).
City AM. Advent, CVC and PPF have been contacted for comment on the report.
Buyout investors have been keen to inject funds into the pet sector in recent years as the sector has boomed due to people buying pets during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Veterinary clinics have been a focus, with private capital groups EQT and KKR making investments in that sector.
But the industry now faces regulatory scrutiny after the Competition and Markets Authority announced an investigation into the industry following its initial review in September.
The review, which prompted more than 56,000 responses from the public and the veterinary industry, raised concerns about how animal care clinics are run across the UK.
These include fears that owners are being overcharged for drugs and how the rise of larger groups taking over smaller practices could reduce competition in the market.
In 2013, about 10 percent of veterinary practices belonged to large groups, but that share is now nearly 60 percent.
