How pet owners are unknowingly lining the pockets of billionaires while vet bills skyrocket
PET owners paying record costs for vet treatment are lining the pockets of a billionaire known as the ‘baby-faced Assassin’.
Norwegian Christian Sinding heads the company that owns IVC Evidensia – Britain’s largest chain of veterinary practices and one of several companies to be hit in a row this week due to skyrocketing prices.
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As owners face increasingly unaffordable bills, IVC’s UK revenues have increased from £834 million in 2020 to £1.2 billion in 2022.
IVC Evidensia is the largest of six companies identified in a report published this week by the Competition and Markets Authority, which cited “several concerns” and announced a major investigation.
CMA chief Sarah Cardell noted that there were “incentives for large business groups to act in ways that could reduce competition and choice”.
And British animal lovers are paying the price.
Lisa Johnson, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, said she noticed big price increases after the practice she had used for 20 years was bought by IVC.
Seven billionaires
Mum-of-two Lisa, who runs a skincare company and is married to Paul, 50, has three rescue poodles, Dudley, Louis and Marshall, plus hamsters and guinea pigs.
She said: “After our mortgage and bills, half my income goes to vet bills.
‘Dudley, who is eight, had some dental work done three years ago before the takeover, involving anaesthesia, blood tests, cleaning and tooth removal, which amounted to £400.
“He now needs to have his teeth redone and I have been given a quote of around £600.
“Anything else and the bill will rise closer to £1,000.
“Consultation fees – literally popping in for a quick chat – have risen from £35 to £60.
“Last week I had to pay £88 for a five minute consultation for Louis’ bad back, which included some basic anti-inflammatories.
“We are struggling with energy bills and food prices. I feel like we are being taken advantage of because we are animal lovers and never want to compromise on their health.”
The six companies named in the CMA report – CVS, IVC, Linnaeus, Medivet, Pets At Home and VetPartners – already own 2,869 of the UK’s 4,920 veterinary practices and are chasing a market worth more than £2 billion a year.
I feel like we are being taken advantage of because we are animal lovers and never want to compromise on their health
Lisa Johnson
Meanwhile, the number of local independent practices has fallen from 89 percent to just 45 percent in the eight years to 2021.
Of the six major players, IVC, which also operates in Europe, is by far the largest, with 1,018 practices in the UK, more than double the number owned by any other company.
The secretive Sinding, 51, whose nickname comes from a combination of his boyish looks and business skills, lives with his American wife and two children on Zurich’s Gold Coast, where properties sell for an average of £4 million to £6.5 million.
He has turned EQT – the Swedish private equity group that owns IVC Evidensia – into one of the fastest growing companies in the world, with around 300 companies employing around 700,000 people.
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In addition to his home in Zurich, where he has lived since 2013, Sinding has a seaside summer home in Fredrikstad, Oslo, where he owns two adjoining £2 million properties.
He recently sold a house in Bygdoy, Norway, for £3 million.
Sinding admits he ‘doesn’t like to talk’ about his vast wealth.
And his colleagues are not short of money either: EQT’s success has created seven billionaires.
There are no golf partners at EQT. So if you sit back, buy a house in Spain and start playing golf, you are no longer a partner here
Christian Sinding
But Sinding, who has little to do with the day-to-day management of IVC Evidensia, emphasizes: “There are no golf partners at EQT.
“So if you sit back, buy a house in Spain and start playing golf, you are no longer a partner here.”
His is one of many chains accused of buying up small, struggling veterinary practices and then raising prices while failing to fully inform customers about costs and alternative treatments.
Three of the six, including IVC, are owned by private equity firms, which tend to borrow to finance acquisitions and then force the company to pay back the interest.
Industry experts fear these costs will be passed on to pet owners in the form of higher treatment costs.
Average bills for Britain’s 17 million pet owners have risen by 24 percent in the five years to 2022.
‘Money grabbers’
Sue Davies, head of consumer protection at Which? said pet owners were often faced with ‘eye-watering’ bills.
One cat owner was quoted £188.96 for a constipation powder which he claimed cost a fraction of the over-the-counter price, plus £36.89 for a two-minute phone call.
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Veterinarian Alex Crow, from Nottingham, said: “Every week I hear about a local vet with a long experience being bought out by one of the big corporate chains.
“I’ve seen data where an office visit cost 15 percent more in a corporate clinic compared to a small private clinic.”
The CMA report shows that some veterinary practices make around 25 per cent of their turnover from the sale of medicines, much of which can be bought cheaper elsewhere.
And it found that the lack of competition caused by the big chains puts customers at risk of overpaying.
Veterinarian Dr. Daisy May, from Liverpool, believes the loss of the veterinary practice will also have an impact on healthcare.
She said: “Independent vets are better able to tailor services and payments to individuals, an aspect that is crucial for pet health.”
The major chains are seeing their profits rise.
Independent veterinarians are better able to tailor services and payments to individuals, an aspect that is critical to pet health
Doctor Daisy May
CVS posted a 50 per cent rise in pre-tax profits last year to £54m, with its three top executives pocketing a total of almost £4m, while boss Richard Fairman took home £1.7m.
Pets At Home made a pre-tax profit of £122 million last year and said its veterinary business, made up of Companion Care and Vets4Pets, was a “significant value creation opportunity”.
Medivet, which has 470 UK veterinary practices, was acquired in 2021 in a deal worth more than £1 billion by private equity firm CVC, while VetPartners, with 350 clinics, was bought by BC Partners in 2018 for £720 million.
Dr. Anna Judson, chair of the British Veterinary Association, stressed that vets are not ‘money grabbers’.
She said: “Fees have increased due to factors such as rising inflation, labor shortages and medical advances.
“Practices must charge appropriately for services to ensure they remain financially sustainable.”
A spokesperson for IVC Evidensia said earlier this evening: “We have always strived to ensure that our prices are appropriate, fair and competitive and that we inform customers before any costs are incurred for any treatment.”
EQT declined to comment on Mr Sinding’s wealth and property portfolio.