NEW YORK, February 22, 2021 – Oak Hill Capital (“Oak Hill”), a New York-based middle-market private equity firm, announced its investment and partnership with American Veterinary Group (“AVG” or “the Company”). Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, AVG partners with over 150 veterinarians across nearly 50 veterinary practices and veterinary urgent care clinics throughout the South and Southeast. This transaction marks a continuation of Oak Hill’s track record in building successful veterinary services businesses following prior investments in VetCor and Butler Schein. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Tampa, AVG is focused on pursuing partnerships with practice owners & veterinary professionals who share its relationship-based values & dedication to clinical excellence. The management team of AVG, led by Chief Executive Officer Craig Niebur, Chief Operating Officer Dr. Christopher Smith, and Chief Development Officer Jim Herring will continue to lead the Company and retain an ownership stake, as will other members of management and veterinarian professionals at AVG.
“We immediately were impressed with Oak Hill’s knowledge of the veterinary services space, but more importantly their shared value of the long-term client relationships built by our local veterinary teams across our hospitals on a daily basis. We are excited about this alignment with our core values as this partnership positions us to continue our vision of expanding the AVG family of hospitals that we have built over the last five years” said Craig Niebur, CEO of AVG.
“We have great respect for the platform Craig, Dr. Smith and their team have worked to build and believe that AVG is well-positioned for growth in the highly fragmented veterinary care services market. The AVG partnership is consistent with Oak Hill’s theme-based investment approach, focused on backing exceptional teams in high quality, acyclical markets with multiple levers to grow,” said Steve Puccinelli, Managing Partner at Oak Hill.
Nico Theofanidis, Oak Hill Principal, added, “AVG has established itself as a partner of choice for veterinary doctors in the highly attractive South & Southeast US markets. We are excited to partner with the AVG team and work together to accelerate this differentiated platform.”
AVG is currently a portfolio company of Latticework Capital Management and Trive Capital. Harris Williams & Co. acted as financial advisor to AVG. William Blair acted as financial advisor to Oak Hill. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as legal counsel to Oak Hill, and McGuireWoods LLP is serving as legal counsel to AVG.
About American Veterinary Group
Founded in 2015, American Veterinary Group owns and manages a network of veterinary hospitals that treat and protect over 500,000 pets annually. AVG delivers high touch practice management solutions while supporting clinical autonomy to help veterinarians at all stages of the practice lifecycle, focus on the needs of their patients, instead of the needs of their business. More information is available at www.americanveterinarygroup.com.
About Oak Hill Capital
Oak Hill Capital is a private equity firm managing funds with over $16 billion of initial capital commitments and co-investments since inception. Over the past 35 years, Oak Hill Capital and its predecessors have invested in approximately 100 private equity transactions across broad segments of the U.S. and global economies. Oak Hill Capital applies an industry-focused, theme-based approach to investing in the following sectors: Services, Industrials, Media & Communications, and Consumer. Oak Hill works actively in partnership with management to implement strategic and operational initiatives to create franchise value. For more information, please visit: www.oakhill.com.
About Latticework Capital Management
Headquartered in Dallas, Latticework is a growth oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. Latticework leverages its over 60 combined years of healthcare experience, as well as its network of industry executives, to help companies grow and realize their full long-term value. For more information, please visit www.latticeworkcapital.com.
About Trive Capital
Trive Capital is a Dallas, Texas based private equity firm managing approximately $2 billion in aggregate capital commitments. Trive focuses on investing equity and debt in what it sees as strategically viable middle-market companies with the potential for transformational upside through operational improvement. We seek to maximize returns through a hands-on partnership that calls for identifying and implementing value creation ideas.
The Trive team is comprised of seasoned investment professionals who have been involved in over 100 middle-market transactions representing in excess of $6 billion in revenue across Trive’s targeted industry sectors and situations.