Got a PE / roll-up / DSO offer on your Illinois veterinary business?

Ask whether the multiple is on adjusted EBITDA after replacing you. A hypothetical $400,000 owner-heavy EBITDA at 10x is not $4 million if they must hire two associates at $180,000 each. Do that math on a napkin before you get exclusive.

Read real estate. A below-market lease to yourself looks like extra profit until they reset rent. A sale of the building is a second deal with a second tax picture.

Read clinical governance. Some letters are vague about medical director control. That affects whether you can stand working there — which affects whether the earnout is reachable.

Read noncompetes. Veterinary noncompetes in a suburb can effectively end a career within a drive-time radius. Counsel, not a group chat.

The buyer needs a licensed DVM path and a structure counsel will sign off on. DEA, pharmacy, and controlled-substance registrations are closing workstreams, not stickers on a cabinet.

Equipment asset transfers can raise Bulk Sales questions. Medical-building or freestanding clinic leases need assignment. Secretary of State filings follow entity choice. Radiation equipment and waste handling will be asked about. Answer before they find the closet.

Replacement-cost recasts are the whole game. If you still do the surgeries, their 10x is a 10x on a job they have to hire. Do the associate-cost math on a napkin in the first hour. If the letter ignores it, the second letter will not.

Real estate at below-market rent to yourself is extra profit until they reset the lease. A sale-leaseback is a second deal with a second tax picture. Pick the fork before you argue about the practice multiple.

DEA and pharmacy registrations are closing workstreams. A corporate buyer has done them. They will still use a late discovery as a chip if your closet is a mess. Answer early.

Ask for the last three Illinois or Midwest deals they closed and what the sellers still do on the schedule. If they will not say, you are buying a brochure. Corporate vet has a pattern. You are allowed to hear it.

Controlled-substance inventory and waste logs are not “the techs handle that.” Late discoveries become chips. A closet that looks like a hobby is a week of QoE and a worse mood.

Noncompete radius in a suburb can end a career. Counsel reads it. We flag the economics. Do not sign a letter that treats a 15-mile ban as boilerplate because you are tired of nights.

Ask how they treat owner production in the EBITDA they just multiplied. If they have not replaced you in the model, the 7x–12x planning range is a brochure. Do the replacement-cost napkin in the first hour while you still remember how many surgeries you do.

A rent reset on a building you still own can silently undo a multiple you celebrated. Write the rent or write the sale of the building. Silence is a second letter you will not like.

Bring the letter to a consult. We will walk cash, registrations, and whether an associate buyer is still allowed to exist. No portal. No retainer to look.

Bring the letter and a honest count of surgeries you still do. The napkin recast is the meeting. Counsel for licenses. CPA for the building. We for the process and whether you should stay exclusive.

Veterinary consolidators have been active for years. Illinois practice owners still get surprised because the first letter quotes a high EBITDA multiple and the second letter recasts the owner’s production out of EBITDA. If you are the surgeon, you are not a platform yet. Ask whether the multiple is on adjusted earnings after replacing you. Bring the LOI to /contact. Do not upload it.

Do the replacement-cost math on a napkin before you get exclusive. A hypothetical $400,000 of owner-heavy earnings is not a platform base if they must hire associates to keep the surgery schedule. We will not invent a “going rate” multiple for that napkin. The napkin is the meeting. If the letter ignores replacement cost, the second letter will not.

BizBuySell’s market-wide 2.7× cash-flow multiple from Q2 2026 is the wrong tool for a corporate veterinary conversation. Use it only to remember that Main Street and corporate healthcare are different rooms. The $349,250 median sale in that report is also the wrong analog for a clinic with real estate attached. Different rooms. Different documents.

They will ask about active patients, revenue per visit, and whether an associate can keep the schedule. They will also ask about the real estate. Many corporate buyers want a lease, not your building, at a rent that supports their model. A below-market lease to yourself looks like extra profit until they reset rent. A sale of the building is a second deal with a second tax picture. Pick the fork before you argue about the practice letter.

The buyer needs a licensed DVM path and a structure counsel will sign off on. We do not draft veterinary-board opinions. We flag when an LOI is quiet about who holds the license on Monday. DEA, pharmacy, and controlled-substance registrations are closing workstreams, not stickers on a cabinet.

Controlled-substance inventory and waste logs are not “the technicians handle that.” Late discoveries become chips. A closet that looks like a hobby is a week of quality-of-earnings and a worse mood. Radiation equipment will be asked about. Answer before they find the closet.

Equipment asset transfers can raise Bulk Sales questions. Form CBS-1 needs at least ten business days when it applies. Medical-building or freestanding clinic leases need assignment. Secretary of State filings follow entity choice. See IDOR CBS-1 instructions.

Veterinary noncompetes in a suburb can effectively end a career within a drive-time radius. Counsel reads it. We flag the economics. Do not sign a letter that treats a wide ban as boilerplate because you are tired of nights. Illinois noncompete rules have changed.

Educational only. Not legal or tax advice. Platforms do not waive Bulk Sales, Secretary of State filings, license updates, or lease assignment. We work on a success fee — no upfront listing fee.