3 Mar 2023
The company disagrees with the competition authority’s findings about its deals to acquire eight previously independent businesses, but says it will divest them to give certainty to affected workers.
Allister Webb
Job TitleA major veterinary company is set to sell off eight businesses whose acquisitions have been the subject of a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) inquiry.
IVC Evidensia claims its offer to divest all of the groups that were covered by the investigation is intended to offer certainty to staff and avoid a further review process.
But the company has also said it disagrees with the CMA’s findings and insisted it is committed to “effective competition” in the veterinary sector.
The CMA announced two weeks ago that it was seeking legally binding assurances from IVC in relation to eight transactions completed during 2021 and 2022.
It had raised concerns about loss of competition in 23 local areas of England and Wales, as well as relating to out-of-hours care in Norfolk and Suffolk, plus equine provision in Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
The businesses affected by the investigation are:
An update published by the authority today (3 March) said the company had “offered undertakings to the CMA, which involve divesting each of the businesses listed above”.
It continued: “The CMA considers that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertakings offered by IVC in relation to each of the transactions under investigation, or a modified version of them, might be accepted by the CMA under the Enterprise Act 2002.”
The CMA had until today to decide whether to accept IVC’s offer or refer the case for a second phase review. No current timetable for the sales to be completed has been revealed.
An IVC spokesperson said: “We remain fully committed to maintaining effective competition in the market, and have worked closely and transparently with the CMA throughout their review of a small number of our recent acquisitions in the UK.
“We’re disappointed by the outcome of the review and we do not agree with their decision.”
But he added: “We believe that what is best for the clinics and employees involved in this review is to move as quickly as possible to resolve their ownership, and give them certainty around their future, rather than enter into a protracted further in-depth review with the CMA, and so have responded to the CMA with undertakings to divest ourselves of all the acquisitions.
“Our primary concern is the well-being and future success for these excellent, successful practices and their great people, and we will continue to appropriately support them, as we pursue alternative ownership.”
