Comhla Vet Limited seeks clearance to acquire Veterinaryfirst Limited

Both Comhla Vet and Vet First provide in-clinic veterinary services to companion animals, and on-farm veterinary services to production animals.

Comhla Vet owns and operates a nationwide network of 52 veterinary clinics under brands including West Coast Vets, Selwyn Rakaia Vets, Veterinary Clinic Morrinsville, Buller Vets, Vetlife, Vetsone, VetSouth and Totally Vets. Comhla Vet forms part of the broader Comhla Group, a vertically integrated business with operations across several levels of the veterinary supply chain in New Zealand. The wider Comhla Group's businesses are veterinary product wholesalers Fortis Vet and Agilis Vet (which primarily focuses on production animals), Heartland Nutrition (which supplies trace elements, minerals and feed products for dairy cattle) and DRL (a veterinary diagnostic laboratory).

Vet First owns and operates 17 veterinary clinics across New Zealand through its Petfirst Veterinary brand, which focuses on companion animals, and its Farmfirst Veterinary brand, which focuses on production animals.

The Commission has today published a statement of preliminary issues in relation to Comhla Vet’s application.

The statement outlines the key competition issues that the Commission considers important in deciding whether to grant clearance to the proposed acquisition.

The Commission invites interested parties to provide comments on the likely competitive effects of the proposed acquisition. Submissions can be sent by email to registrar@comcom.govt.nz with the reference ‘Comhla Vet/Vet First’ in the subject line. Any submissions should be received by close of business on 11 November 2026.

The Commission is currently scheduled to make a decision on the application by 16 December 2026. However, this date may be extended with the agreement of Comhla Vet if the material before the Commission at that time does not allow it to be satisfied that the proposed acquisition will not have, or would not be likely to have, the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market in New Zealand.

The statement of preliminary issues and a public version of the clearance application can be found on the Commission’s case register.

Background

We will only give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

Further information explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available.