Shaw and Partners acted as Joint Lead Manager for NVL’s $30 million initial public offering (IPO) with a listing market capitalisation of $50.7m.

Today the listing of National Veterinary Care (NVL) came on at a 28% premium above the issue price of $1.00 per share.  The stock traded as high as $1.31 throughout the course of the day, closing its first day on the ASX at $1.21.

National Veterinary Care is building a national network of veterinary clinics and aims to be a primary provider of veterinary services in Australia and New Zealand. Within the pet care industry, the veterinary services offered by NVL include prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury in pets.

With the $30 million capital raise, National Veterinary Care intends to acquire 35 vet clinics. NVL’s model is designed to arbitrage the difference between private and public multiples and to enable its vets to drive an uplift in sales and margins through economies of scale, management systems and specialty services.

National Veterinary Care’s IPO is priced at 8.2-times forecast 2016 financial year profit after tax and 10.9-times proforma earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

National Veterinary Care expects $5.9 million EBITDA for the 2016 financial year, based on proforma numbers, and $1.9 million profit. Industry consolidation will continue with NVL becoming an acquisition target. The Australian industry remains fragmented providing significant opportunity. As at 14 August 2015, Shaw and Partners has a buy on the stock.