Post-close · Veterinary Services

Management Incentive Plans (MIP) Counsel for Veterinary Services Acquisitions

Securities and M&A counsel for independent sponsors structuring veterinary services transactions, from LOI to close to the capital markets that open up afterward.

EV range $8M to $100M EV EBITDA $2M to $18M Audience Independent Sponsor
The deal context

Veterinary Services deals in the lower middle market run a specific playbook. Management Incentive Plans (MIP) is where the structure either holds or starts to leak.

The typical veterinary services platform sits at $8M to $100M EV with EBITDA in the $2M to $18M range. The thesis runs on general or specialty practice roll-up under an MSO. DVM retention is more valuable than equipment. Underwrite the people, then the practice.

The moves

How Management Incentive Plans (MIP) actually gets structured.

  1. Size the MIP at 10 to 15 percent of post-close equity, with 60 percent time-vested and 40 percent performance-vested.

  2. Use profits interests for tax efficiency, with a clear strike value at grant.

  3. Build double-trigger acceleration on change of control plus termination.

  4. Document the MIP in the LLC operating agreement, not in a separate plan only.

  5. In veterinary services, layer in state-by-state CPM analysis filed pre-LOI as part of the Management Incentive Plans (MIP) workstream.

The common mistake

Promising the MIP percentage in the LOI without modeling the impact on the LP waterfall. The LP finds out and the deal stalls.

Jason's take
"MIPs are the cheapest retention tool you have. Use them deliberately, document them precisely."
Jason Powell · Management Incentive Plans (MIP)
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

After close, the call list for refinancing, recapitalization, and growth equity gets short and known. Jason carries that list.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
TALK TO JASON

An LOI on the desk, a veterinary services target, and a Management Incentive Plans (MIP) question worth a real conversation.

Twenty minutes of practitioner-grade input from a securities attorney whose first move is to read the deal, not the engagement letter.