Barrenjoey, Jefferies in box seat to list Greencross as suitor circles

Greencross is the country’s largest pet care and vet chain company in Australia. Picture: iStock.

The $4bn pet care company Greencross is understood to be moving close to a sale or float, with suggestions that its private equity owners may have lined up advisers as a suitor eyes the business.

Multiple sources say Barrenjoey and Jefferies are now in TPG Capital’s corner to work on a listing this year of the business that owns retailer Petbarn.

Meanwhile, DataRoom has learned that a strategic suitor out of the United Kingdom has been looking at the business, which may suggest that TPG Capital instead opts for a trade sale.

While the identity of the suitor is unknown, some of the largest pet care and vet companies in the UK include CVS Group, IVC, Linnaeus, Medivet, Pets at Home and VetPartners.

According to IBISWorld, Greencross generated $2bn annual revenue for the year to 2024 and $57.8m of net profit, and has $1.9bn of assets.

It is the number one player in the Australian industry with 35.5 per cent market share, ahead of Woolworths-backed PETstock with 27.5 per cent.

The business nearly sold to the Australian listed healthcare company EBOS in 2023 for $4bn but the buyer walked away at the final hour, and before that, Wesfarmers, advised by Barrenjoey, considered an acquisition.

Greencross was founded in 1994 by vet Glen Richards. After being listed, it was purchased by TPG Capital in 2019 in a $675m transaction.

It has more than 160 clinics, and the retail side of Greencross has more than 230 stores.

In addition to selling pet food and accessories through its store network and online platform, Greencross offers a wide range of pet services including grooming, dog washing, obedience trading and pet adoption.

A deal was struck in the past for pension funds, including AustralianSuper, to buy 45 per cent.

The dilemma is that some of TPG’s investors received strong returns from the trade, and it remains under pressure to match those returns for the sale of the remaining business.

Should it list, it’s likely that the private equity firm would solve for the problem by having AustralianSuper roll its stake into the listing.

It comes as the pet care business is capitalising on the growing trend of an increasing amount of money being spent by consumers on their animals.

Woolworths in 2023 paid $586m for a 55 per cent stake in the owner of PETstock, the No.2 retailer in the Australian market.

EQT bought VetPartners for a price understood to be between $1bn and $2bn in 2023.

Real Petfood is currently up for sale through investment bank Citi, while Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought Natural Pet Food Group in 2021, and New Zealand-based natural pet-food provider ZiwiPeak sold to Chinese fund FountainVest for about $NZ1.5bn.