PetSmart plans to lay off 15% of its employees at its headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, according to reports.

The company was bought by a private equity consortium led by BC Partners Ltd. for US$8.7 billion in March 2015. Along with the sale, PetSmart’s CEO David K. Lenhardt was replaced by Michael J. Massey.

“We are focusing our efforts right now on PetSmart’s future growth,” a company spokeswoman said in a report. “We identified priority areas of the business where we need to invest additional resources. And as part of this, we also identified areas where we need to gain efficiency.”

“This is an important step to ensure that we are staying true to our commitment to become a highly efficient retailer and to further invest in the future growth of the company,” the spokeswoman said.

 PetSmart employs 53,000 people at more than 1,400 stores in the US, Canada and Puerto Rico. About 1,700 people work at the headquarters.