Offit Kurman’s M&A Group Represents Beltway Veterinary Cardiology in Multimillion-Dollar Asset Sale to Roll-up Acquirer

For Immediate Release

October 3, 2018 | Tysons Corner, VA Led by attorney C. Thomas Hicks III, Offit Kurman’s Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Practice Group represented Beltway Veterinary Cardiology, Inc. (BVC), in a complex, multimillion-dollar asset sale last month. The company was purchased by two parties: National Veterinary Associates, Inc. (NVA), and a confidential buyer. The transaction, which closed on September 4th, is the latest in a rapid series of M&A deals handled by Offit Kurman.

BVC is one of the largest veterinary practices in suburban Maryland. Doing business as Dogs and Cats Veterinary Referral (DCVR), the organization has provided advanced veterinary medical care and emergency 24-hour services to pets throughout Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia for nearly 16 years. Capabilities include internal medicine, neurology, oncology, radiology, and surgery—all facilitated with advanced on-site imaging and diagnostic technology. From 2015 through 2017, DCVR won the Bowie Blade Readers Choice Award for Best Veterinary Hospital.

Offit Kurman’s M&A team assisted BVC in creating a wholly-owned subsidiary into which the company contributed its assets. The firm then worked with the client to sell 80% of the subsidiary to NVA and the individual purchaser, with the remaining 20% distributed between BVC’s two shareholders.

Founded in 1996, NVA is the largest private owner of freestanding veterinary hospitals in the United States. The company also owns several animal care units in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. When NVA purchases an entity, it retains the organization’s staff, brand, and culture, while providing administrative support. NVA has achieved a sustainable pattern of growth through an M&A strategy based on “roll-up” mergers, in which a company expands operations by purchasing and combining multiple, similar businesses.

Given its own history of regional expansion through lateral affiliations and acquisitions, Offit Kurman is an ideal partner for roll-up companies looking to grow in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Over the past two decades, the firm has grown from a small group of legal practitioners to nearly 200 attorneys across a dozen offices from New York City to Richmond, Virginia. This hands-on M&A experience—coupled with the firm’s recent streak of successful transactions closed for clients—sets the firm apart, said Mr. Hicks.