El Segundo-based veterinary hospital operator National Veterinary Associates Inc. has named a new chief executive and plans to split into two business units.
National Veterinary Associates, or NVA, operates more than 1,500 veterinary hospitals, equine hospitals and pet care centers in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, employing more than 45,000. The company, which is privately owned, states it posted $6 billion in revenue last year.
Until 2019, NVA was owned by Century City-based Ares Management. In June of that year, Ares sold NVA to JAB Investors of Luxembourg. The sale price was not disclosed.
In its March 27 announcement, NVA named veterinary and health care industry veteran Larry Allgaier as its new chief executive. He will replace longtime chief executive Greg Hartmann, who will assume the post of chairman. Hartmann was at the helm for 15 years, growing the company from 85 United States-based veterinary hospitals to the global behemoth it is today.
Simultaneous with the chief executive transition, NVA announced it will be splitting itself into two business units: Ethos Veterinary Health, which will consist of 145 specialty veterinary hospitals; and NVA, which will continue to oversee approximately 1,400 general practice veterinary hospitals, equine hospitals and pet resorts.
Adding more detail, the announcement said Ethos, which NVA acquired in 2021 for $1.65 billion, will focus on leading the advancement of cutting-edge medicine to extend and improve the lives of pets. Its portfolio will consist of legacy Ethos Veterinary Health, Compassion-First, SAGE, and legacy NVA specialty and emergency hospitals.
The announcement gave a “run revenue” estimate for Ethos Veterinary Health of about $2 billion and for the remaining NVA at about $4 billion. The company added that the move to split the operations was in anticipation of an initial public offering.
“The formation of the two businesses will allow NVA and Ethos to focus on their distinct strategic growth priorities and prepare for eventual IPOs of each in the next two to three years,” the announcement said. Hartmann said this strategic shift in the company was a good time to make the chief executive transition.
