Rood & Riddle joins the Equine Care Group as the latest addition to its five-year acquisition spree.
Equine Care Group (ECG) has announced a long-term strategic partnership with Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, the largest privately owned equine hospital in the United States. The deal brings the Lexington, Kentucky-based hospital – with additional sites in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Wellington, Florida – together with a European network of equine hospitals, ambulatory practices, labs, fertility clinics and nutrition brands, which ECG has spent the last five years curating via acquisitions.
“The strongest organisations are not those with the best strategy on paper, but those that succeed in bringing together talented people around a shared vision, shared values and mutual trust,” believes ECG CEO and co-founder, Tom Mariën. “Whether you work with horses, people, or both, leadership ultimately remains a deeply human story.”
The group aims to use this portfolio to advance equine medicine worldwide, guided by the fundamental belief that veterinarians should shape and lead its future. This ambition also appealed to Rood & Riddle. “We felt like our mission and vision align with the group’s, as well as what’s best for equine veterinary medicine and veterinarians for the future,” shares CEO Deborah Spike-Pierce.
Like the rest of ECG’s acquisitions, the deal is structured as a partnership rather than a takeover; Rood & Riddle keeps its name, leadership, culture and clinical autonomy, while gaining access to ECG's international network for better and faster research, education and case collaboration.
“Bringing our organisations together connects decades of complementary clinical experience and creates new opportunities to advance equine medicine through shared knowledge, research and innovation,” explains Tom, for whom this deal is a full-circle moment back to where his career journey started nearly 30 years ago, when he observed at Rood & Riddle as a young surgeon.
Since then, Tom has become a well-known veterinarian for many families and businesses in Belgium’s equine industry, with his own surgical clinic, Equitom, in Lummen serving as the starting foundation for ECG.
ECG’s founding merger
On 5 February 2021, Equitom and Dutch private equity firm Bencis Capital Partners announced a partnership to establish the Equine Care Group. “Our company not only found a strong and solid financial partner, which allows us to continue investing in state-of-the-art medical equipment, but also a strategic partner to help realise the desired expansion,” Tom revealed at the time.
Bencis MD Matthias Vermeersch explained that, alongside organic growth – through the expansion of the hospital in Lummen – there were specific plans to open new clinics in Belgium and neighbouring countries, as well as strengthen the group through acquisitions.
Dr. Frederik Bruyninx (then team vet for the Belgian show jumping squad) and nutraceuticals brand Global Medics joined shortly after, rounding out what ECG now describes as its founding merger.
That same year, Navalis and Eduardo Felix (the official team veterinarian for the Canadian jumping team) joined the group, broadening its footprint into the German and Canadian markets. Simultaneously, construction began on a new Equine Hospital in Namur, including 60 boxes.
The pas de deux
In May 2022, Equitom and De Bosdreef Group – Belgium’s first private equine referral hospital, founded in 1992 – came together in what many considered an unprecedented partnership. “At the time, we were competitors. We each worked independently, with our own teams, challenges and ambitions,” Tom explains. “Yet beyond that competition, we already shared what mattered most: a passion for horses, a commitment to excellence in veterinary medicine and a common set of values.”
Four years later, their bond is stronger than ever. “Today, when we come together, we no longer see competitors. We see colleagues, partners, and above all, friends,” Tom adds. “We have grown together, learned from one another, overcome challenges, celebrated successes and built something far greater than a group of clinics – a true community of veterinarians who collaborate, support each other and move forward with a shared purpose.”
De Bosdreef's Filip Vandenberghe became an ECG partner, elevating the group to one of Europe's largest equine hospital operators, by all trade accounts.
Around the same time, ECG welcomed Charlotte Seifert, who had a shared history at several of the group’s portfolio companies, including a one-year rotation internship at Bosdreef Equine Hospital and working together with Eduardo. Her practice (founded in 2014) includes two other equine veterinarians, Roxanne Bex and Maria Aguirre, who also joined the group.
The extension of Equitom Lummen hospital also started in 2022, including three operating rooms, conference facilities, and 50 additional boxes.
Building out the stable
In 2023, ECG moved into diagnostics, first by onboarding Florent David – an equine surgeon and specialist in sports medicine, rehabilitation and diagnostics, who was promoted to Equitom’s MD in April 2023 – and later through the acquisition of Zoolyx. Its founders, Tom Nagels and Frank Van Campen, are veterinarians themselves who had built the lab into a 40-person operation serving more than 500 vets across Belgium. Their addition formed the basis of the new ECG Labs division, providing the group with an in-house diagnostics arm rather than relying on a referral relationship.
On 6 October 2023, ECG acquired Vitalbix, trading as Feral Horse Care, for its Nutrition and Supplements arm. Days later, ECG took over veterinary services at the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour venue in Oliva, Spain, upgrading the on-site medical complex rather than acquiring a standing practice. “The aim is to provide even better support for the horses,” Frederik notes regarding these two deals, which had a slightly different structure than previous acquisitions. “We want to share our knowledge for the benefit of the participating horses.”
The same month, the group made its first acquisition in Italy via Clinica San Biagio, the country's first equine hospital with a standing MRI, followed in December by a partnership with Irish nutrition producer TRM, giving the nutrition division its second brand inside three months.
The Italian build-out continued into 2024 with the acquisition of Cento Fiori, a zootechnical and equine-nutrition feed producer based near Bologna. Around the same period, Aznalcóllar Equine Hospital in Seville province joined ECG Clinics, converting what had been a seasonal Spanish presence via MET Oliva into year-round coverage of the Iberian Peninsula.
44 in a Row founder Michèle Clarysse joined the Dentistry division, and Vanessa Buytaert joined the Ambulatory Care division that year. ECG also welcomed new partners Juan Turrero, Katia Burette and Jef Desmedt.
Tom met Jef at the University of Ghent, while he (Tom) was working as an assistant in the surgery department and Jef was in his final year of studying. “Even then, Jef was an exceptional student. He was talented, determined and so much further ahead than the rest,” Tom recalls. At the time, he knew Jef was going to become a big name in equine medicine, and he was right. Jef’s talent in orthopaedics and sports medicine was soon noticed by top riders in almost all disciplines and, in no time, he was in demand at the most famous stables, especially in Belgium and the Netherlands. His wife, Lies de Bakker, who specialises in equine fertility and built a centre in Oudsbergen for reproduction and foal care, joined with him.
ECG capped the year by winning "Scale-Up of the Year 2024," an award organised by EY with De Tijd, L'Echo, BNP Paribas Fortis and WorxInvest, recognising a growth rate that, by this point, had not slowed once in three years.
New shareholders in the saddle
In February 2025, Bencis mandated Rothschild & Co – a key advisor on most (if not all) of the ECG deals until now – to explore strategic options, hinting that a sale was coming. However, the deal momentum continued, with two further add-ons in the first half of the year: Dutch equine fertility clinic Equiception joined ECG's reproduction and fertility division and Irish practice EquiVET Ireland joined ECG's ambulatory care division.
Bencis signed a share purchase agreement to sell its majority stake to the Belgian investment company Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille (CNP), controlled by the Frère family, but it retains a minority stake. “Over the past four years, we’ve experienced a remarkable journey built on vision, passion and close collaboration with Tom and the entire ECG team,” Bencis partner Robert Falk said at the time, adding that CNP’s outstanding reputation, long-term vision and proven track record make them the ideal partner for ECG’s next phase of growth: internationally.
“From the start, we have been impressed by ECG’s unique model and remarkable growth trajectory – driven by the vision, passion and energy with which Tom, Frederik and their teams are reshaping the equine healthcare sector and setting new standards of excellence in equine wellbeing,” explained CNP CEO Xavier Le Clef, noting their plans to strengthen the group’s leadership position in its core markets as well as support its continued global expansion.
Eight Advisory (financial due diligence), Argo Law and A&O Shearman joined Rothschild & Co on the sell-side, while PwC and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton supported the buy-side. Bain & Company was involved on both sides of the deal.
The exit won the Best Private Equity Exit Large Cap Deal title at the 2025 M&A Awards in Belgium.
Less than two weeks later, ECG added In Vitro Equinos – a leader in equine intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), with labs in Brazil, Argentina, Qatar and the United States – to its reproduction and fertility offering.
Then, on 27 November 2025, Gimv signed a definitive agreement to acquire an indirect minority stake in ECG through a joint holding entity. “As a team with a strong track record in doctor-led healthcare growth stories, we see clear parallels between ECG and our previous healthcare success stories,” commented Gimv’s head of healthcare and managing partner, Bart Diels.
This allowed CNP to bring in a specialist healthcare investor without diluting its control. “Gimv’s healthcare expertise complements CNP’s ambition and reinforces our shared mission to deliver world-class equine care and make this available all over the world,” added Xavier.
Closing out 2025’s deal activity, Dr. Wim Vandermaesen joined ECG as an equine veterinarian and insurance/legal expert.
Jumping the Atlantic
With CNP and Gimv on board, ECG opened its first chapter in the US on 8 April 2026 through a partnership with Salado Equine Medical Centre in Texas, led by doctors Beau Whitaker and John Janicek. “We felt like there was a true sense of collaboration and working together with ECG, where they’re trying to raise everyone’s ability to treat horses, care for their patients and bring the next generation of veterinarians,” Beau shared as the reason behind the partnership.
“Collaboration helps us all learn from each other, and the way it's structured will hopefully allow practices like this to continue in the future instead of being bought out by corporations that don’t really care about the vets or the patients, just the money.”
John spotlights ECG’s history of “bringing together a bunch of hospitals in Belgium that were technically competitors to cooperate under one umbrella”, culminating in a network of vets that can share their experience and insights like never before.
The Gimv half-year report has listed ECG among companies still pursuing “targeted acquisitions” through the first half of 2026, which means Rood & Riddle won’t be the last deal we see from the group, either.
Matthias will share the story behind Equine Care Group’s founding and Bencis’ eventual exit during the third edition of the M&A Private Equity Summit, taking place on 22 October 2026.
The session explores the investment thesis, value creation strategy, buy-and-build execution, and the thinking behind an exit that created value for both the incoming investor and those who chose to stay invested (everything we couldn’t cover in this already long feature)!
Don’t miss it! Register, here.
