insights

  DVM360.com had a good article in the December 2015 issue entitled “3 Practice Sale Slowdowns”: 3 veterinary practice sale slowdowns A few things are certain: Death, taxes—and the countless ways a practice sale can be brought to a screeching halt. Dec 01, 2015 By Christopher J. Allen, DVM, JD DVM360 MAGAZINE Recently I was contacted…

Hospital owners who manage a veterinary practice for a decade or more demonstrate unquestionable dedication to their calling. Still, at some point, many feel a subtle yearning to do meaningful work in a different vocation. The result is a tension between that thought and the resolve to remain true to a life of serving people…

Selling your veterinary practice may be the most important financial decision you make in your professional life. While many factors are involved in a decision to sell, one frequently gets overlooked: timing. Is there a “best time” to sell? Maximizing sale value is usually near the top of every owner’s list. So how do you…

Charles Darwin once wrote, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” In the rapidly evolving business of veterinary medicine, as practice owners struggle to juggle work-life balance, training and career development, clinical practice, and business management, it does seem that the…

In the past several decades the United States has experienced an upward-trend of corporate acquisition of private veterinary practices, and there is good reason for this trajectory. The advantages of a corporate buyer include capital, business know-how and strong support teams, and bring great value to the practice of veterinary medicine. Here are 7 other…

Veterinary clinics are usually sold on a “debt-free” basis, meaning that when a clinic is sold, at a minimum any interest-bearing debt (such as bank loans, credit cards and capital leases) is deducted from the selling price. Example: A clinic is valued at $1,500,000 and has $300,000 of debt. The net proceeds to the seller…

Until the mid-1990’s, it was common for veterinary practices to be valued according to their revenue. One often-cited approach was to value a clinic using a multiple of revenue, such as 75% or 100% of revenue. For example, a clinic with $1,200,000 of revenue valued at 100% of revenue would have sold for $1,200,000. However,…

Even with the benefit of hindsight it might not be possible to known exactly when the best time to sell would have been – and certainly none of us has a crystal ball to know the perfect future time to sell. However, we can offer some general suggestions about timing that may help practice owners.…

It is common for practice owners to also own the clinic’s real estate (the land and the building). In these cases, the buyer will typically purchase this real estate as part of the overall practice purchase, or enter into a lease with the seller, allowing the practice owner to continue owning the real estate and…