Heska Completes Acquition of scil Animal Care Company

Heska Corporation, a provider of advanced veterinary diagnostic and specialty products, announced the completion of the acquisition of scil animal care company GmbH from Covetrus, for US $110 million in cash, subject to customary closing adjustments.

The acquisition was first announced on January 14. scil has been a proven European leader since 1998 in providing veterinary point-of-care laboratory and imaging diagnostics, with headquarters in Germany and operations in France, Italy, Spain and Canada. This acquisition creates a leading global veterinary diagnostics company, servicing millions of pets through tens of thousands of veterinarians and active point of care analyzers around the world.

Heska’s CEO and President Kevin Wilson said, “While many transactions are pausing or terminating in this uncertain time, we are coming together with scil today, on schedule, because our employees, veterinarians, communities and shareholders are made stronger by the combination. Pets are essential to human flourishing and pet healthcare is a wonderful space in which to invest. The companies that invest in their people and capabilities during difficult times like these will be positioned for above market performance when uncertainty begins to recede. Heska intends to be one of these companies. With today’s acquisition, Heska gains phenomenal assets that we very much want to own during the next several quarters and, more to the point, decades. I believe very strongly that this combination will drive significant value creation for all stakeholders. For these and many other reasons, I am thrilled to welcome the scil animal care team to our Heska family.”

Wilson continued, “The company’s balance sheet and fundamentals are in great shape as we close this transaction. Our post-deal operating capital improves by $12 million and we expect our cash-on-hand, even in severely down-market scenarios, will reliably support our ability to operate while pursuing our growth strategies for the next two years and beyond. Our core subscriptions model for diagnostics to veterinary hospitals, which have been deemed essential businesses, continues to perform well, with our subscribers continuing to serve pet healthcare needs with our products throughout the US. We remain firmly on the path we have articulated since 2018 to exponentially grow our opportunity, and this acquisition is further evidence of that continued trajectory.”