New year, new owner

Ainsworth Pet Nutrition took over Petmate, Spectrum Brands purchased Pet Matrix, and Beeztees has acquired Karlie. These are just some of the higher-profile transactions that took place in the pet supplies industry last year. 
In the USA in particular, quite a few companies changed hands in 2017, and there are sure to be further cooperative ventures and mergers in the pet business in Interzoo year 2018 too.

Mars Petcare has acquired Genoscoper Laboratories, a specialist in molecular diagnostics for companion animals. The acquisition was finalised on 27 December 2017, and the companies will manage the transition over the course of 2018.The acquisition will accelerate the pace of discoveries in genetics to form the basis for future practical applications in enabling precision healthcare for pets, according to the two companies. 
Mars Petcare's genetic testing unit Wisdom Health is described by the company as a pioneer in this field with its market-leading breed detection test Wisdom Panel. Finland-based Genoscoper created the genetic health testing platform MyDogDNA in close partnership with the University of Helsinki. 

The new year was barely a week old when it was announced that the US agricultural enterprise Cargill intends to enter the pet food market with its acquisition of the American company Pro-Pet. Pro-Pet employs 150 people and runs three pet food manufacturing plants in the states of Minnesota, Ohio and Kansas. Cargill has a workforce numbering over 155 000 in 70 countries and had an annual turnover of nearly 100 bn dollars last year. The acquisition makes Cargill the only US supplier of both animal feed and pet food offerings in the agricultural retail space.

Another takeover in the USA was announced by the pet medication and wellness company PetIQ when it acquired VIP Petcare, an operator of veterinary clinics within major US retailers, for around 220 mio dollars. VIP runs 2 900 community clinics and wellness centres in the stores of local pet product retailers across 31 American states. Its services include diagnostic tests, vaccinations, prescription medications, microchipping and wellness checks. Willi Santana, chief executive officer of VIP, will be joining the PetIQ board of directors as well as the company's senior management team in connection with the closing of the transaction.