NEWS
New investments by the leading veterinary group: Vetti Group acquires six new businesses, announces opening of the 24-hour hospital in Split
Zagreb, July 9, 2024 – In the first fifteen months of doing business, Vetti Group, Croatia’s leading veterinary group, has acquired a total of thirteen businesses, and announced the opening of the 24-hour veterinary hospital in Split.
After opening its Buba by Vetti Group, the largest privately-owned 24-hour veterinary clinic, in Zagreb in December of last year, this year, in March, the group was joined by the Split-based SplitVet Small Animal Veterinary Practice, specializing in orthopedics, and ZAG-VET Veterinary Station in Zlatar, which boasts both large and small animal practices, a veterinary pharmacy, and an associated animal shelter, Luč Zagorja. Only a month later, in April, the group acquired the Split-based Pet-Vet Specialty Small Animal Veterinary Practice and the Veterinary Station of the City of Zagreb, together with its practices and pharmacies in as many as five different locations throughout the city. Lastly, the group was joined by the Ogulin Veterinary Practice and Gornja Bebrina Veterinary Practice. Combined with its latest acquisitions, Vetti Group now has over 230 employees in 26 different locations.
“With these new acquisitions, we have been expanding across Croatia. Also, over the next two years, we plan to invest an additional EUR 20 million. We are extremely proud and happy as we wish to provide every single pet and their owners throughout the country with a uniform, good-quality, and fast veterinary care and support. The group’s expansion and its new partners, with whom we are successfully cooperating, will help us to reach as many clients as possible with our services. We’re already providing all our members with professional education and sharing the considerable knowledge of our veterinarians and other relevant staff. We will keep investing in state-of-the-art equipment and raising the standards of the veterinary profession,”
Future veterinary hospital in Split
An agreement was recently signed on the lease of the future 750-square-meter veterinary hospital in Split. Just like the clinic opened last December in Zagreb, the hospital in Split will have the most advanced CT device, four modern operating theatres, eight examination and consultation rooms, a standalone waiting room for cats, and a separated room for saying farewell to their pets. Vetti Group has already started hiring for positions opened in Split. Their future employees will be offered an opportunity for continuous professional development, and the option for parents with small children to shift their working hours, a common practice in Western Europe. Additionally, all retirees who feel fit to contribute to the profession and the education of youth will have an opportunity for part-time employment.
“The market has changed considerably over the past years, making work in the veterinary sector more difficult. Still, I think we should view each problem as an opportunity to advance. Raising the standards of the veterinary profession at Vetti Group, I recognized an opportunity for the fruit of my parents’ efforts to go on and maintain continuity, together with our employees, thus building on the longstanding tradition by implementing higher standards for the veterinary sector in our country.”
The group has already implemented a large portion of its plans for 2024, including setting up a contact center for general inquiries and appointments at the BUBA Veterinary Clinic in Zagreb. The service in question should be expanded to include other members of the group as well. Presently, the group is in the process of introducing routine pet physical exams. They also plan to open a 1,000-square-meter veterinary hospital with the state-of-the-art equipment in Zagreb’s Gajnice. The facility will have a cutting-edge MRI device, a much-needed diagnostic tool for pets in Croatia, and will double as an educational center; however, it is worth noting that the group already provides its employees with advanced training.
Founding the Vetti Academy
BUBA Veterinary Clinic regularly organizes professional training and seminars to help the veterinarians keep up to date with the latest developments in the field. At the moment, the third round of lectures by the renowned expert in veterinary neurology, Ronaldo da Costa, of The Ohio State University is underway. All these activities serve as an introduction to the Vetti Academy, which hosts lectures by top-notch in-group experts and external specialists in order to further educate both veterinarians and technicians, and retrain the personnel who lack medical background and experience but wish to join the veterinary profession. Lastly, in the coming year, Vetti Group will launch a student scholarship program.
Vetti Group is majority-owned by Provectus Capital Partners, winner of the 2023 Bestinvest.hr Award for Private Equity Investor.
“Vetti Group was founded with the goal of improving the general standard of the veterinary profession in Croatia and creating the conditions for a better, more comprehensive pet care. We are proud of the team of first-class experts who are doing their job at the highest level, and our role is to support them in their endeavors. We find it important to channel the funds into modernizing the facility and its functionality so that the veterinarians can focus on what’s imperative – providing the best possible veterinary care.”
