INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund acquired vet clinic network MiniVet

The leading Baltic private equity fund INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund continues to grow its investment portfolio and has acquired MiniVet, a Vilnius-based vet clinic network.

MiniVet controls two vet clinics that operate in Vilnius districts of Lazdynėliai and Pilaitė. Shares of the controlling company were sold to the fund by founder family of Valdas Gaižutis and Lina Gaižutienė.

“We are investing in an attractive veterinary sector, which benefits from very favourable lifestyle change-driven trends. Increasingly more and more households are becoming pet owners, combined with growing attention devoted to pet care. However, the veterinary business in Lithuania is still fragmented with lots of small clinics that are usually unable to fully satisfy the growing demands of pets. We will thus aim to create a wide network of vet clinics that would reach more customers. This network would also operate specialized clinics that would provide more complex vet care services.

We believe that this model, which is already operating successfully in Western Europe, will appeal to pets, pet owners and owners of small vet clinics, who could join our network and save their time from managerial duties in favour of vet care or other needs”, said Vidas Venckus, Partner at INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund.

“We have started this business and have consistently grown it since the beginning. After selling our shares to investors, we will continue working together and growing the company further. We hope that our industry experience and knowhow will greatly contribute to achieving ambitious goals together with strong financial partners”, said Lina Gaižutienė, experienced vet doctor and one of MiniVet’s founders.

Deimantė Korsakaitė, Executive Partner at INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund added: “One of the fund’s objectives is to invest in small businesses, hoping to promote entrepreneurship and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. MiniVet is not the first time that we direct funds into, what by the fund’s standards is, a small investment, but in a sector that has strong growth potential and has been historically resilient to economic fluctuations. We plan to devote growth capital from the fund and are convinced that creating a wide network with large customer reach will create value not just to pets, pet owners, small business owners, but also to our fund’s investors”.

MiniVet, founded in 2016, provides a wide range of veterinary services, including pet’s periodic health inspection, preventive care, lab diagnostics, surgical intervention, anaesthesiology, and intense therapy. The network also offers a wide assortment of vet pharmacy and pet food products and also has its own online store.

About INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund

The INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund, with a size of EUR 165 million, is one of the largest private equity funds in the Baltics and has the European Investment Fund (EIF) as its anchor investor.

The EIF, which is a part of the European Investment Bank, has committed EUR 30 million with the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (a key element of the Investment Plan for Europe, or ‘Junker Plan’) while also allocating resources from the Baltic Innovation Fund, a “fund of funds” initiative developed in cooperation with the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The initiative aims to increase capital investment in high-growth-potential small and medium-sized enterprises in the Baltics.

The fund seeks to assemble a diversified portfolio, targeting majority or significant minority stakes through investments of EUR 10 million to EUR 30 million in companies that demonstrate high growth potential and an ability to succeed in conditions of increasing global competition.

The fund is focused on the Baltic countries and neighbouring regions including Poland, the Nordics and Central Europe. The fund so far has invested in five companies in the healthcare, civil engineering, environmental management (plastic recycling and waste management) and cosmetic and hygiene products manufacturing sectors.

The Fund is managed by one of Lithuania’s leading asset management companies INVL Asset Management, which is part of the Invalda INVL group. The group’s companies manage pension and mutual funds, individual portfolios and private equity and other alternative investments. More than 260,000 clients in Lithuania and Latvia and international investors have entrusted the group with EUR 1.6 billion of assets under management. Active since 1991, Invalda INVL has a solid 30-year track record of managing private equity and developing companies into market leaders in the Baltics and CEE.

Person authorized to provide additional information:
Deimantė Korsakaitė
the Executive Partner of the INVL Baltic Sea Growth Fund
E-mail: deimante.korsakaite@invl.com