Major UK vet groups explained: who owns what?

If you are comparing vets in the UK, you will often hear about "corporate groups" — large businesses that own many first-opinion practices trading under local names. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated the veterinary market and named six major corporate groups whose growth has reshaped how practices are owned and branded.

This hub guide links to plain-language explainers for each group, plus WisePet ownership dashboards where you can see dataset counts and search matched practices. It is informational only — not veterinary, legal or financial advice.

Source note: This guide is based on the CMA's veterinary market investigation final decision report (Part A and summary, published 24 March 2026) and supporting materials on GOV.UK. WisePet summarises publicly available information for pet owners. Figures and ownership structures can change; check primary sources and our dashboards for the latest context.

Why these six groups matter

The CMA's investigation focused on whether pet owners had enough information to compare veterinary services — including prices, ownership and complaints routes. A central finding was market consolidation: CMA materials report that large corporate groups increased their share of UK veterinary practices from around 10% in 2013 to over 60% at the time of the investigation (CMA final report, Part A and summary).

The six groups named in the CMA's report are:

• CVS Group
• IVC Evidensia
• Linnaeus
• Medivet
• Pets at Home (including Vets4Pets)
• VetPartners

These are not the only corporate structures in UK veterinary care, but they are the groups the CMA treated as materially significant for competition and transparency. Many pet owners told the CMA they did not know their practice was part of a wider group — which made it harder to compare options or know where to raise concerns.

Understanding who these groups are does not tell you whether a local practice is good or bad. It helps you interpret branding, see whether nearby practices may be connected, and use ownership alongside price and service comparisons. For broader context, see Corporate vs independent vets and CMA vet reforms explained.

The six groups at a glance

Each group below has a dedicated explainer guide (background and consumer context) and an ownership dashboard (WisePet dataset snapshot). Owner summaries are brief — see each guide for sources and detail.

Practice counts and exact structures change over time. Company websites, CMA appendices and our methodology note how WisePet assigns ownership labels in the dataset.

How to use these pages

WisePet offers two complementary page types for each major group:

Explainer guides (/guides/who-is-…/) answer "who is this group?" in plain language. They cover legal entities, ownership, brands you may see locally, CMA context where relevant, and practical takeaways for pet owners. They are written for background — not live counts.

Ownership dashboards (/vet-groups/…/) show a dataset snapshot: how many practices we currently match to the group, links to search those practices, and structural context from our ownership data. Dashboards are data-first; they do not repeat the full narrative from the guides.

A sensible workflow:

1. Read this hub or the relevant who-is guide if you want background on a group.
2. Open the matching vet group dashboard if you want numbers and to search practices in our dataset.
3. Use the ownership lookup to check a specific practice by name or location.
4. Compare prices and services with search and compare regardless of ownership.

For regulation and professional standards (separate from ownership), see Who is the RCVS?. For step-by-step ownership context, see Who owns your local vet practice?.

What this means for pet owners

Ownership information is useful context, not a ranking. The CMA's concern was transparency and informed choice — not a claim that one ownership model is always better.

When comparing vets, consider:

1. Check ownership — use our lookup tool or ask the practice; do not assume a local name means independence.
2. Compare prices and services — ownership does not predict cost; compare quotes, health plans and what is included.
3. Look at the full picture — opening hours, emergency cover, reviews, communication and clinical fit matter alongside structure.
4. Know where to raise concerns — group-owned practices may have local and group-level complaints routes; check their website.

If you believe our ownership label for a practice is wrong, please report a correction. Structures change through acquisitions and divestments; we aim to keep data source-backed and dated where possible.

Related reading

• All vet group dashboards — hub for every ownership group in our dataset
• Who owns your local vet practice? — how to use ownership information
• Corporate vs independent vets — what ownership can and cannot tell you
• CMA vet reforms explained — remedies and timeline for pet owners