Virbac

Virbac is a French company dedicated to animal health. It was founded in 1968 by veterinarian Pierre-Richard Dick.

The company is the 8th largest veterinarian pharmaceutical group with a turnover of 736 million euros in 2013. The company is a limited company with Executive and Supervisory Board. It has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1985 and is member of the SBF 120. The founder's family is the majority shareholder of the company.

History

Veterinarians Pierre-Richard Dick and Max Rombi founded Virbac (acronym of virology and bacteriology) in 1968 as a veterinary office in the Cap 3000 mall in Nice. The office was sold two years later, after which Dick and Rombi focussed on animal drugs for pets, distinguishing Virbac from large veterinary pharmaceutical companies that specialised in livestock.

At the end of the 1970s, Rombi began the subsidiary Arkovet, from where he developed Arkopharma, specialising in phyto- and nutrition therapy.

International growth

Virbac went international in 1983 with the establishment of offices in Egypt and Spain. Subsidiaries followed in the United States of America (1984), Italy, Brazil, Australia, Germany (1987), Mexico (1988), Poland, Japan (1992), and Belgium (1994).