SBA 7(a) Veterinary Clinic Feasibility Study in Georgia

Georgia veterinary lending: big loans, one dominant holder

Veterinary clinics are only 14 of 39 among Georgia's asset classes, yet by 7(a) loan count Georgia stands 6 among states for veterinary practices. SBA approved 109 loans between FY2017 and FY2026, worth $122.9 million, with a midpoint of $800,000 that is 1.29x the nationwide 7(a) midpoint for clinics. The central half of loans spans $315,000 to $1.5 million. Franchising is almost nonexistent at 0.92%. The pattern is high-dollar lending to independent owners, possibly for buying a practice or building a clinic.

Live Oak and the other holders

The lender table is lopsided. Live Oak Banking Company tops it, at 36 loans and $52.0 million; below come Wells Fargo Bank National Association with 11 for $15.3 million, United Community Bank 9 for $10.3 million, and Ameris Bank and Pinnacle Bank 5 apiece, for $6.0 million and $5.6 million. These are the holders SBA reports at present, so they say where loans sit and not why. Fulton County accounts for 25 loans, DeKalb 8, Chatham 7, and Cobb and Gwinnett 6 each, so lending concentrates in those counties.

Outcomes

Cancellations after approval are 7.6% on both the floor and the ceiling. Georgia's 58 funded loans approved FY2017 through FY2021 show charge-offs of at least 3.4% overall and 1.7% within five years. Both are minimums. Annual dollars moved from $19.6 million in FY2017 to $2.0 million in FY2023, then climbed back to $18.0 million in FY2025 and $20.3 million in FY2026, a swing that argues against extrapolating any one year.

What a Georgia veterinary study must test

With a median near $800,000, many of these deals are practice acquisitions, and the study must say whether the buyer is acquiring a going practice, building a facility, or adding equipment such as imaging. For an acquisition, it should examine the client base, the share of revenue tied to the departing veterinarian, and the staffing of technicians, since a shortage of clinical staff limits throughput. Demand analysis must count competing clinics and emergency hospitals within the real drive time of the site, and it should consider specialty or large-animal services where the practice offers them. Build costs for kennels, surgery suites and ventilation differ from ordinary office space and must be itemised. Demonstrate the payment surviving a transition-year revenue dip, and the appraisal must value the building separately from the goodwill of the practice. The new owner's licensure and cash reserves belong in the plan as documented facts.