Birmingham, Ala.-based veterinary practice management company SVP Holdings LLC (d/b/a Southern Veterinary Partners [SVP]) has closed its merger with Mission Veterinary Partners (MVP). As part of the transaction, SVP issued a new $2.9 billion first-lien term loan and $200 million in nonconvertible preferred shares and placed a new $250 million revolving credit facility (undrawn). The proposed merger effectively doubles SVP's scale, expanding its footprint across the U.S., while also simplifying the capital structure. This leads to S&P Global Ratings-adjusted debt to EBITDA in the low-6x area in 2025, with some improvement expected in 2026 from growth and free cash flow generation. As such, we raised our issuer credit rating on SVP to ?B? from ?B-? and removed it from CreditWatch,
