Leicestershire-based soft chew manufacturer Custom Vet Products (CVP) has been acquired by European animal health product firm Swedencare AB.
CVP supplies soft chews for cats and dogs under the Pali family of products, such as Pali-Vits and Pali-Calm, with sales mainly taking place through veterinary clinics.
Announcing the SEK 137.22 million (£11.2m) deal, Swedencare said the addition of CVP to its business would give it a strong presence in manufacturing and development in the premium soft chew market UK and Europe.
The UK arm will be renamed Vetio UK and will continue to be led by current managing director David Ryder.
Ryder said: “In recent months we have already started collaborating with some Swedencare subsidiaries. I firmly believe that the opportunity of being a part of Swedencare will provide superb synergy and bring fantastic opportunities to expand more rapidly into the UK and European markets.”
Håkan Lagerberg, chief executive of Swedencare, added: “Through the acquisition of CVP, we can accelerate our plans to launch soft chews on the European markets. This will both help us to add new products to our existing brands fast and also enable us to facilitate a European launch for some of our important US-based private label and contract manufacturing customers.”
