Heska closes $110M acquisition of European vet diagnostics company

LOVELAND — Veterinary diagnostics company Heska Corp. (Nasdaq: HSKA) closed its purchase of the European arm of competitor Covetrus Inc. (Nasdaq: CVET) for $110 million this week, saving $15 million from the original purchase price.

Heska announced the deal in mid-January, originally saying it would pay $125 million for scil animal care company GmbH, which would give it 40% control over the veterinary diagnostics markets in Germany and Spain and a third of France’s market. 

A week earlier, it had announced acquisitions of two Spanish companies for an undisclosed sum as part of a larger global expansion strategy to double its customer count and revenue streams around the world through 2021.

“With today’s acquisition, Heska gains phenomenal assets that we very much want to own over the next several quarters and, more to the point, decades,” Heska CEO Kevin Wilson said.

Heska paid for the deal via preferred stock issuances to a consortium of four investment groups, which could increase the company’s shares outstanding figure by 19 percent.

Scil has offices in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Heska now estimates it has more than 500 employees worldwide.

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