BUILDING AN INDUSTRY LEADER
At the time of our exit, Compassion-First Pet Hospitals (“CF”) was the largest independent, specialty-focused network of pet hospitals in the United States, with 41 locations across the country.
Quad-C partnered with industry executive John Payne in 2014 to form CF, which began operations with the simultaneous affiliation of four practice groups in the mid-Atlantic / northeast region. We had been proactively pursuing an investment in the animal health sector for over a year, and we were enthusiastic about John’s thesis to develop the industry’s most collaborative and clinically-focused specialty veterinary network.
Through a series of affiliations with new practices as well as organic growth, CF expanded from being a regional leader to a national organization of high-quality hospitals with excellent local reputations.
EXECUTING THE STRATEGY
With the support of Quad-C, management executed on a well-defined value creation plan.
- Proprietary sourcing led to 41 hospital affiliations with founding veterinarians across 13 states
- Investing in IT systems to drive improved efficiencies, controls and consistency
- Recruiting exceptional veterinarians to drive double digit same hospital growth and create full-service specialty and emergency hospitals
- Investing heavily in back-office support to build out a shared services organization, allowing the veterinarians to focus on practicing medicine rather than dealing with administrative matters
- Investing substantial capital in state-of-the-art medical equipment, new facilities and IT systems to support organic growth
- Fostering a culture of collaboration and patient-centric care, which attracted top-quality practices and veterinarians to CF
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
One of the proudest moments of our investment in CF was the company’s response to Hurricane Harvey in 2017:
- CF’s main Houston location, its second largest hospital, was completely destroyed during the extreme flooding, and CF’s operations in the region were significantly impaired for months
- Local management and the central shared services team acted quickly to mitigate losses and to continue caring for pets after the catastrophe
- During this time, CF continued to pay all employees in full regardless of ability to work and also established a donor-advised fund to help employees who had suffered personal losses
- In December 2018, CF moved into its new state-of-the-art facility in Houston, demonstrating tremendous resilience after a once-in-a-lifetime disaster
EXIT
After exceeding our growth plans and establishing the framework for continued future success, Quad-C exited CF in 2019 at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
