Close · Veterinary Services

Veterinary Services Mezzanine Debt & Capital Stack: An Independent Sponsor's Counsel

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

Mezzanine Debt & Capital Stack on veterinary services deals is one of those workstreams that looks routine on a checklist and decides outcomes in practice.

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 Mezzanine Debt & Capital Stack actually gets structured.

  1. Target senior leverage at 3.0x to 3.5x EBITDA, mezzanine at 1.0x to 1.5x on top.

  2. Negotiate an intercreditor agreement that does not throttle the operator.

  3. Structure mezzanine with PIK toggle and warrants priced into the IRR model.

  4. Confirm covenant headroom of at least 20 percent at close.

  5. In veterinary services, layer in state-by-state CPM analysis filed pre-LOI as part of the Mezzanine Debt & Capital Stack workstream.

The common mistake

Letting the lender pick the intercreditor terms. Those terms decide what the operator can do on day 180.

Jason's take
"The capital stack is a contract, not a spreadsheet. Read every page of every term sheet."
Jason Powell · Mezzanine Debt & Capital Stack
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 Mezzanine Debt & Capital Stack 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.