H.I.G. Exits Community Veterinary Clinics

5/22/17

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--H.I.G. Growth Partners, the growth equity group affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $21 billion of equity capital under management, announced the sale of its position in Community Veterinary Clinics, LLC to CVC’s management team and majority owners.

CVC provides preventative and wellness veterinary services throughout the United States via its network of clinics. The Company's more than 2,500 community clinics, located in locally-based pet stores and feed stores, offer a wide variety of preventative pet care services, including diagnostic tests, vaccinations, prescription medications, microchipping and wellness checks. In addition, CVC sells a wide variety of prescription diets, medication, and other pet supplies through its online ecommerce store.

In August 2014, H.I.G. portfolio company PawsPlus, Inc. merged with VIP Petcare Holdings, Inc. to form CVC, which, at the time, brought together over 600 employees across 24 offices across the U.S. serving approximately 1,500 clinic locations. Concurrent with the VIP Petcare merger, PawsPlus sold its VETCO-related assets to PETCO Animal Supplies, Inc. H.I.G. originally acquired PawsPlus in December 2010 in a take-private transaction from a non-trading public entity.

“We are proud of the part that H.I.G. played in partnering with VIP Petcare to create the country’s leading clinic-based veterinary care business,” said Steve Loose, Managing Director of H.I.G. Capital.

Craig Niebur, former CEO of PawsPlus, commented, “The PawsPlus team was fortunate to work with H.I.G. to build a strong national pet services platform. They were instrumental in developing and executing on the strategy that lead to a very successful outcome for everyone.”

About H.I.G. Growth Partners

H.I.G. Growth Partners is the dedicated growth capital investment affiliate of H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $21 billion of equity capital under management.* We seek to make both majority and minority investments in strong, growth oriented businesses located throughout North America, South America and Europe. We will invest $5 million to $30 million in equity in a given company and target investments in profitable growth oriented businesses with between $10 million and $100 million in revenues. We consider investments across all industries, but focus on certain high-growth sectors where H.I.G. has extensive in-house expertise such as technology, healthcare, internet and media, consumer products and technology-enabled financial and business services. Growth Partners strives to work closely with our management teams to serve as an experienced resource, providing broad-based strategic, operational, recruiting and financial management services from a vast in-house team and a substantial network of third-party relationships. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.HIGgrowth.com.

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