Covetrus potentially selling to private equity firm?

https://www.barrons.com/articles/covetrus-cvet-stock-private-equity-buyout-offer-51653049753

 

It would be a huge mistake. Sorry to say, but Covetrus as it is, is a has-been. Distribution in AH will continue to change forever. They will need to cut costs and restructure until they can compete with the DHLs, FedEx, UPS, and other pure logistic players on cost. VetsFirstChoice will not be easy at all to grow, especially outside of US.

 

This feels like the board and the large institutional investors just want to cut their losses and move on given what share price this private equity firm is offering, which is below the IPO price. Henry Schein spun them off with Vets First Choice because it was dragging on their core business. They gambled and thought it was additive to their bottom line and it wasn’t.

 

If that actually goes through, it could start the domino effect with the other big 3 distributors. There are always rumblings of MWI being sold possibly to a big consolidator like VCA or possibly Mars and Patterson is a target. That end of the animal health sector is suffering from continued large margin decreases, corporate buyouts and control of clinics, and always the imminent threat of competition from the likes of Amazon, Walmart, etc.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/covetrus-acquired-clayton-dubilier-rice-122000991.html Covetrus sold!