Henry Schein signs agreement to acquire C&M Vetlink

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC), the world’s largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, medical and animal health practitioners, announced today the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire C&M Vetlink, a leading distributor of animal health products in Ireland.

The closing of this acquisition is subject to receipt of approval by 90 percent of C&M Vetlink shareholders, as well as approval by Ireland’s Competition Authority.

These conditions are expected to be satisfied by the end of the year. The transaction is expected to be neutral to slightly accretive to Henry Schein’s financial results for 2013.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

C&M was founded in 1973 as a distributor of certain pharmaceutical products in Ireland. Today, C&M Vetlink distributes a wide variety of veterinary and companion animal health products to veterinarians across Ireland and had sales of approximately €42 million ($54.7 million) for the 12 months ended July 30, 2012.


Approximately 70 percent of sales are for large animals, reflecting the importance of dairy farming and livestock to the Irish economy, with the majority of sales from pharmaceutical products. With headquarters in Limerick, Ireland and warehouses in Limerick and Dublin, C&M Vetlink has 46 team members including 11 salespeople.

“As the premier provider of products and services to office-based veterinarians in Europe, we look forward to extending our Pan-European presence to Ireland through the acquisition of C&M Vetlink,” said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Henry Schein.

“The strong legacy of C&M Vetlink will immediately position us as a leading Irish animal health distributor and complement our well-established animal health business in the United Kingdom and in other European countries. We very much welcome the opportunity to build on the firm foundation of C&M Vetlink and to providing our Irish veterinary customers with even more products and services to meet their practice needs.”

Upon closing, Edmond Wall, C&M Vetlink’s Managing Director, will join Henry Schein as Managing Director, C&M Vetlink, Ireland; and Jim Spratt, C&M Vetlink’s Assistant Managing Director, will join Henry Schein as Operations Director, C&M Vetlink, Ireland.