Pets At Home Celebrate Again. To The Tune of £955 Million

Seemingly in response to yesterday's news (Pets At Home Celebrate Christmas In January) today brings the news of Pets at Home being bought by an American private equity firm.

As previously reported here, Pets at Home recently released a trading update. This showed their like for like sales in the 6 weeks prior to January 7th 2010 rise by 6.7%. Following from that good news, Pet Insurance Comparison has just learnt KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.) have successfully acquired Pets at Home for £955 million.

In July 2004, Bridgepoint (another private equity firm) bought a 60% share in Pets at Home for £230 million. So they have seen their equity grow considerably in the last 6 years. As a result they intend to share a £3 million bonus with Pets at Home employees.

Aside from many independent pet shops, there are very few competitors for Pets at Home. This is what attracted KKR and other private equity firms to buying the popular UK retailer.

Pets at Home was founded by Anthony Preston in 1991 with just one shop. Now there are over 240 spread acros the UK, predominently selling pet accessories.

A Video of a Pets at Home Store Launch

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