Website:
www.evidensia.se
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Evidensia.pdf
With Valedo as majority owner Evidensia developed into Northern Europe’s leading pet care group with presence in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. 42 add-on acquisitions were completed to broaden service offering and complement geographic presence. In addition, by establishing Evidensia Academy, Evidensia leads competence development for the entire industry and also fills an important role in general research in veterinary care through a collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Evidensia was created in 2012 when Valedo along with two foundations and veterinarian Olof Skarman invested in Evidensia and merged four companion pet hospitals (Regiondjursjukhuset Strömsholm, Regiondjursjukhuset Helsingborg, Malmö Djursjukhus and Södra Djursjukhuset in Stockholm). The analysis of the pet care market was initiated as early as 2009 and Valedo had for several years entertained discussions with a number of pet hospitals with the ambition to identify several units who shared fundamental values and culture in order to create a nationwide group under a single brand to offer pet owners the best basic and specialist care.
When Valedo invested in Evidensia, the market was very fragmented and there was a significant need for increased professionalism in the industry, driven by scale advantages and pet owners’ increasing needs for advanced, basic and specialist care. Pet clinics had grown larger due to an increased demand for veterinary care fueled by companion pets’ enhanced status in their families and technological progress, but there had been no consolidation or national collaboration to enable transfer of competence and creation of synergies in education, patient referrals, national marketing and procurements. Also, the owners of the increasingly larger clinics had to handle daily issues relating to administration, personnel and local marketing. When clinics were able to join Evidensia they could get assistance on these issues and their veterinarians could focus fully on the clinical work.
That it was Regiondjursjukhusen in Strömsholm and Helsingborg, Malmö Djursjukhus and Södra Djursjukhuset which formed the platform for Valedo’s investment in Evidensia was no coincidence. All founding hospitals had a reputation for being quality and competence leaders in their respective
regions, which was of great importance for building a larger group with a solid standing. The reputation, expertise and networks of the founding hospitals created added value for other smaller clinics to join the group. Evidensia therefore grew rapidly and after two years included more than 90 clinics and hospitals in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark.
In creating the quality leading and largest pet care group in Northern Europe, a number of initiatives were completed:
The development of Evidensia exceeded all expectations and already after two and a half years, Evidensia was present in all Nordic countries. In order to continue the expansion outside the Nordics, a new majority owner with larger financial resources was needed. Therefore, in the summer of 2014, Valedo initiated discussions with a few potential investors who had expressed interest in Evidensia and the discussions resulted in EQT taking over as majority owner. The Foundations and most of the minority shareholders (the company’s key personnel) chose to remain as co-owners alongside EQT.
EQT VI Limited (”EQT”) has reached an agreement to invest in Evidensia Djursjukvård (”Evidensia”), the leading companion pet care chain in Northern Europe, and acquires the majority holding from Valedo Partners Fund II AB (”Valedo”). Most of the other shareholders of Evidensia, consisting of key staff and the two foundations, Stiftelsen Strömsholm Djursjukvård and Stiftelsen
Some of Sweden's leading pet care providers are merging to form a national leader in pet care under the name Evidensia Djursjukvård AB ("Evidensia") with the aim to create a leading quality-oriented pet care group with national presence. Evidensia initially has 5 hospitals, 10 clinics, approximately 140 veterinarians and is represented in 14 locations in
What has been accomplished
With Valedo as majority owner Evidensia developed into Northern Europe’s leading pet care group with presence in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. In addition, by establishing Evidensia Academy, Evidensia leads competence development for the entire industry and also fills an important role in general research in veterinary care through a collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.