Buy a Veterinary Practice
Buying a practice is a process with a predictable shape. Knowing the shape in advance is what stops you spending money on the wrong opportunity or agreeing terms you cannot improve later.
What This Guide Covers
- The Sequence
- Where Deals Go Wrong
- The First Hundred Days
The Sequence
- Work out what you can afford
- Before you look. Your deposit, your borrowing capacity and the income you need from the practice set the size of what you should be considering.
- Find opportunities
- Practice agents, direct approaches to owners approaching retirement, and internal opportunities where you already work. The best deals are frequently the ones never advertised.
- Appraise quickly and cheaply
- A first read of the accounts should take an hour and should tell you whether to proceed. Most opportunities should be declined at this stage.
- Value it properly
- Normalised earnings and a defensible multiple, not the asking price with a discount applied.
- Make an offer with a structure
- Price, share or asset purchase, what is included, deferred elements and conditions. Structure is as negotiable as price and often more valuable.
- Fund it
- Projections, lender approaches and comparison on total cost. Get indicative terms before you commit publicly to a price.
- Due diligence
- Financial, tax and legal, run in parallel with a clear timetable.
- Complete and transition
- Structure implemented, staff transferred, reporting live from day one and the seller handover managed rather than assumed.
Where Deals Go Wrong
The recurring failures are all avoidable. Agreeing a multiple without defining the earnings it applies to. Discovering that half the clinical income belongs to the departing owner. Finding a lease with two years left and no security. Assuming working capital comes with the business when the completion mechanism says otherwise.
Every one of those is found by asking the right question early rather than by discovering it in week six of due diligence.
The First Hundred Days
The transition period decides whether you bought what you thought you bought. Client retention, staff retention and the departing owner handover all need active management, and the numbers need watching weekly rather than monthly while it happens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I buy a practice as a first-time owner?
How do I find practices for sale?
What should I never agree in heads of terms?
Discuss a Veterinary Practice Acquisition
Whether you have found a practice or are still looking, an early conversation saves money on the ones you should walk away from.