União Pet lowers cost-savings estimates from Petz–Cobasi merger

União Pet, the company formed by the merger of Petz and Cobasi in December 2025, revised its expected integration cost savings during a presentation on 30 January.

The Brazilian pet retailer cut its estimated savings from R$330 million ($53.5M/€53.5M) projected in August 2024, when the deal was announced, to R$200 million ($38.2M/€42M) to R$260 million ($49.7M/€32.4M) as of January. 

The amount is expected to translate into higher annual Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA).

Impact of store divestiture  

According to União Pet’s Integration Director, Oderi Leite, the group refined its projections after hiring the consulting firm McKinsey & Company to identify synergies in costs, operations and opportunities.

“We’ve been working for a year and a half since we started mapping out synergy opportunities. Furthermore, this range has been reduced due to the impact of the divestment of 26 stores, which is part of the agreement,” Leite says, referring to the remedies imposed by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) to approve the deal. 

União Pet anticipates achieving full synergy only in the fifth year after the deal, with progress made in the interim. 

Integration and growth drivers

The group reinforced that all physical stores will maintain their original brands, either Petz or Cobasi. After the merger, the company focuses on 4 areas to drive growth. 

The first is an enhanced omnichannel strategy with expanded subscription programs, as União Pet reports that its omnichannel customers spend up to 3.5x more than single-channel customers.

The other 2 are investing in store expansion and increased service offerings, cross-selling and micro-franchising to cover more states. 

“We believe the best model is to have services professionals as owners of their own revenue. At Cobasi, we have been very successful with the franchise model, present in 130 stores, and we want to expand it to the others,” Rafael Siqueira, Chief Financial Officer, says. 

Health care plans

Additionally, according to the CFO, Petz is in the early stages of offering health care plans.

The company will also focus on increasing the penetration of private labels and proprietary brands across its stores. 

According to CEO Paulo Nassar, 2 premium brands launched last year are gaining market share, supported by staff training to better present the products to customers. Private labels accounted for 14% of Petz’s revenue in the past quarter, compared with 7% at Cobasi.

Controlling group and leadership

The Nassar family, founders of Cobasi, and Kinea Private Equity form the controlling group, holding 46.7% and 8.5% of the shares, respectively. Sergio Zimerman, founder of Petz, owns 20.2% of the shares, and the remaining 24.7% is free float, traded on the Brazilian stock exchange.

The presentation also revealed the full leadership team, in addition to the 5 announced on 9 January. 

The new executive members announced are Caio Bernardo as Commercial & Marketing Director, Aldir Silva as Logistics Director, and Cobasi’s Fabiana Rosa as Corporate Education Director, and Flavia Pontes as HR and Services Director and Thalyta Losano as Legal Director, both coming from Petz.